Cookstoves by the International Rice Research Institute, Phillipines.

IRRI Stove

Lo Trau Stove (Vietnam)

Maligaya Stove ( Philippine Rice Research Institute, Maligaya) improvement of Indonesian and Vietnamese rice hull stoves

Ilongo Stove (Central Philipine University, Iloilo)

From the IRRI Program Report for 1994 (p 242)

CROP RESOURCE MANAGEMENT NETWORK (CREMNET)

Women in Rice Farming Systems (WIRFS)

Labor-saving equipment. In 1993, a rice-hull stove contest was sponsored by the society of agricultural engineers in the Philippines. After the con-

test, four stoves were field tested in a village in Nueva Ecija. The models evaluated by the women cooperators were the IRRI stove, the Maligaya stove,

the Ilongo stove (Central Philippine University, Iloilo), and the Vietnamese Lo Trau stove. The models were color coded to prevent women from

knowing the origin of the stoves and to avoid biased choices.

Women were allowed to use each model for a week, after which an evaluation interview was con-

ducted. The evaluation used a point system and a

comparative system. In the comparative system, the

users were asked to compare the different stove

models and rank them according to simplicity of

design, durability, ease in loading rice hulls, ease in

removing ashes, safety, suitability for all types of

cooking, ease in transporting, fuel requirement, no

ash contamination of food, and messiness and smoki-

ness.

The women in the village preferred the Lo Trau

stove followed by the Maligaya stove, the Ilongo

stove, and the IRRI stove. The IRRI stove was later

modified and improved based on women’s feed-

back. The stove test showed the importance of incor-

porating users’ feedback in designing, testing, and

evaluating any equipment.