The first major cause of the current situation of the Kenkey makers is a lack of awareness concerning the negative impacts. Most Kenkey makers are not aware of the health risks and the environmental degradation caused by traditional cookstoves such as three-stone fires, or may not understand how severe these issues are (Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, 2014). The most obvious reason for this is that there is a lack of education, which is related to a lack of time and money spent on education. A lack of education, money and time is also caused by the great amount of time that is spent on collecting fuel wood, cooking and poverty within the household. It is actually a vicious circle.
Secondly there is no alternative, affordable cookstove that meets the costumer’s needs. As described in the introduction, KITA is the only developer of wood fuel clean cookstoves for the making of Ga and Fante Kenkey. The affordability of the cookstove is an important criterion for the customer, because they are often unable to afford the upfront cost of an improved cookstove (Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, 2014).
Thirdly, wood fuel is easy and cheap to obtain and that is why the customers are not forced to look for an alternative. It may even be free of costs in some regions, especially those with proximity to forests (Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, 2014). Deforestation is also in the Ejisu-Juaben District a great problem. Again, poverty is the underlying cause.