| Abstract: | In the mid-1970s, it was argued that broad strata of the population of low-income countries would for a long time remain dependent upon traditional energy sources such as woodfuel, crop wastes and dung. This paper retraces the rural energy issue as it was diagnosed in the mid and late 1970s, and reviews major contending views on rural energy strategies in low-income countries, amongst others in Africa. Is there an energy crisis, what are its causes and what are the implications for designing strategies and policies? First some macro estimates of global woodfuel gaps are presented which have been instrumental in mobilizing public policy support for efforts to address woodfuel issues. This leads to a brief discussion of some underlying methodological and data problems with respect to fuelwood supply and demand estimates. Next, available microlevel energy studies are reviewed, including an account of major shortcomings, as well as suggestions for improvements in questionnaires, and ending with a plea for studying rural energy issues in a wider historical and rural setting. The rest of the paper discusses policy approaches to rural energy from the perspective of various professional interests (energy specialists/economists, foresters, agronomists and agroforestry experts). |
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