Pine tree sticks make ‘sigiri’ lighting easier

Lighting a charcoal stove (sigiri) is nearly what every African woman from a humble background does on a daily basis. The process, albeit, daunting and learnt from a tender age, involves the use of different combustible material.
Joan Nafuna opts for polythene bags, popularly known as kaveera, to light her sigiri, which she uses to roast gonja in Kabalagala, a Kampala suburb. She empties her stove of the previous day’s ash, before loading charcoal in an inverted pyramid shape on the stove. She then inserts a polythene bag in the middle of the charcoal heap and lights the kaveera with a match stick.

In less than a minute, Nafuna starts to experience the discomfort of the smoke from the burning kaveera, causing her to cough and her eyes to teary. However, this is not a process Nafuna is keen on using on an ordinary day, she, like many households in Uganda, have discovered an easier way; the pine sticks.
“Kaveera is readily available but it brings a lot of smoke compared to pine sticks,” she says. And like Nafuna, Jovian Nakayi knew two options to light a charcoal stove - using a polythene bag or pour paraffin on the charcoal and light it. But in 2008, Nakayi’s new neighbours in Zzana on Entebbe Road had long discovered the magical chopped small pine tree and expunged the use of paraffin or polythene bags in their homes.

“It saves time and the moment you light it, the sticks continue to burn until the stove is lit,” Nakayi says.
Like Nakayi, Andrew Olowa, who runs a restaurant business, to light the gigantic charcoal stoves inexpensively, pine tree sticks a better alternative.
“I have been using pine sticks for seven years and the beauty with it, you use few sticks and your charcoal stove is lit,” Olowa says.

But what makes pine easily adaptable to lighting the charcoal stove?
Michael Mallinga, a tree scientist attached to National Forestry Authority (NFA), says pine has a fluid component called resin, which makes it inflammable.
“But the resin acts as an anti-pest, that is why pine is hardly eaten by termites,” Mallinga says. He, however, says the tree is not meant to make firewood because of the smoke it gives off when burnt.

According to Obed Tugumisirize, the NFA national tree seed centre manager, the history of when people started using pine for lighting stoves is not clear since it has been in existence for some time. He, however, says urbanization, where people can longer use grass or papers, has created opportunities for people to experiment with many things to earn a living. He said they were in the past contacted by some people from Saudi Arabia to export pine sticks to light barbeques but the deal never materialised.
“Pine is a renewable energy and you can use it as long as you plant it. It is a good alternative to the Kaveera,” Tugumisirize suggests.

Tracing the origin
We traced the centre of the pine sticks trade in St Balikuddembe market (Owino). From morning to sunset, Soweto, a special section in the market, is a busy place. It is polluted with chopping sound of tree stems. Youth, as young as 16, are preoccupied by either carrying logs, sharpening pangas used to chop the stems or stuffing sticks in polythene bags.

The tree that preoccupies the youth is pine; an evergreen coniferous tree that has clusters of long needle-shaped leaves. It can grow up to 45 metres tall and it takes 18 years to mature.
To many people, the tree is known for its soft and expensive timber, but the other tree parts like roots and tiny branches that you would consider useless, are equally expensive and are the popular material used to light stoves.

Musa Bukenya has been involved in the trade of pine sticks for three years now. The sticks are arranged in packs that contain five sticks, which cost Shs500.
Like its timber, the sticks are pale in colour and have a pungent scent when split.
With the available market across Kampala, it does not take Bukenya a lot of time to sell 80 packs that fetches Shs40,000, his average daily income.
“I have five boys who help me sell [vending the sticks] and I pay them commission so they have to sell many to earn a lot,” Bukenya says.

Similarly, at Olive Nakazzi’s stall in the same area that also sells traditional crafts, pine sticks top the list of the most demanded products.
Bukenya is a Senior One dropout and earning such money a day, in a country where unemployment is estimated at more than 60 per cent, one could argue is better than professionals who are either unemployed or are meagerly rewarded.

In fact, estimates from Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), a government agency mandated to create jobs through attracting investments, indicate that only 150,000 jobs are created yearly. Yet, an estimated 400,000 graduates are poured into the labour market annually.
Bukenya and Nakazzi have the specific suppliers who go to the villages, get people to dig the roots of Pine trees and then transport them together with timber to Kampala. They too employ other youth who vend them on the streets of Kampala and beyond.
Bukenya told this paper that not all pine trees are used for the sticks “but only very old trees”, mostly extracted from Nakansongola.

Health risks

Dr Sheila Ndyanabangi, the head of Mental Health Desk in the Ministry of Health, says much as the pine sticks are good at lighting charcoal stoves, the smoke it emits affects the lungs.
“Its smoke is not as dangerous as tobacco’s but it is not clean either,” Dr Ndyanabangi says. She says like any smoke, when inhaled, pine smoke can cause respiratory infections. She says the smoke inhaled destroys the lungs’ cilia, (tiny hairs), which are naturally supposed to clean and repair the respiratory system. And because the smoke destroys cilia, the dirt and pollution stays in your lungs.

The pine tree
To many people, the tree is known for its soft and expensive timber, but the other tree parts like roots and tiny branches that you would consider useless, are equally expensive and are the popular material used to light stoves.
Pine contains a fluid component called resin, which makes it inflammable, according to Michael Mallinga, a tree scientist attached to National Forestry Authority (NFA). Resins also help the tree not to lose a lot of water during drought. Mallinga says pine is very valuable because it fetches a lot of money on the market.

The tree takes about 18 years to fully mature. But Mallinga says one even harvest it at seven or nine years.
The National Environment Management Authority (Nema) spokesperson Ms Naomi Karekaho, says conservation of pine is rather easy because of its value. “It is a commercial tree because of its good timber,” Karekaho says.
However, according to the state minister for Environment, Flavia Munaaba, Pine trees affect the biodiversity of the native forests.
Also, pine is prone to wildfires and in a few hours, a forest can be destroyed.