BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-Malawi’s worsening shortages of essential commodities have spread to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), leaving some consumers in Blantyre reportedly spending weeks searching for cylinders to refill.
Long queues have been reported at Afrox Malawi Limited’s head office at Ginnery Corner, where consumers have been turning up in large numbers hoping to secure LPG.
However, supplies reportedly ran out before all those waiting could refill their cylinders.
The shortage comes at a particularly challenging time for Malawi, which is seeking to accelerate the adoption of cleaner and more reliable cooking technologies nationwide.
Under the National Energy Compact, the country has set a target of transitioning 75 percent of households to clean cooking by 2030.
Government plans 117,000 LPG cookstoves
Energy Minister Jean Mathanga said Government is planning to expand access to clean cooking technologies as part of the country’s energy transition programme.
Speaking on No Excuses, a new programme by Nation Online, Mathanga said Government plans to provide 117,000 LPG cookstoves and 53,000 electric cookstoves by 2030.
The initiative is intended to help households move away from traditional cooking methods and increase access to cleaner alternatives.
However, the current LPG shortage raises concerns about whether consumers can depend on the fuel as Malawi expands its clean-cooking programme.
World Bank-backed project to distribute 150,000 solutions
Government is also working through the World Bank-funded Ascent project, which is expected to facilitate the distribution of 150,000 clean cooking solutions by 2030.
The programme forms part of broader efforts to reduce reliance on polluting cooking fuels and technologies while improving household access to modern energy.
The immediate LPG shortages, however, underline a major challenge facing the transition: expanding access to clean cooking will require not only distributing cookstoves but also ensuring that households can consistently obtain the energy sources needed to use them.
For consumers currently spending weeks searching for LPG refills, the shortage is a reminder that Malawi’s clean-cooking ambitions will depend heavily on the reliability of supply chains and the affordability and availability of alternative energy sources.
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