JOURNALISTS have been called upon to continue providing education to the public on the importance of using clean energy for cooking to successfully achieve the country’s set goals of ensuring 80 percent of Tanzanians use clean energy by 2032.

The call was made in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday by Oryx Gas Tanzania Limited (OGTL) managing director, Benoit Araman when speaking at a function to hand over gas cylinders and stoves to journalists.

The move is a continuation of the firm’s campaign to support the clean energy transition strategy which is championed by President Samia Suluhu Hassan. The company has so far provided 33,000 gas cylinders worth 1.5bn/- to various groups across the country.

"Journalists are key players in making sure more people shift from dirty to clean energy. We also promise to continue with the campaign to ensure realisation of the President’s set target as well as saving the health of women and girls as well as the environment,” he said.

He added that cooking with LPG frees a lot of time for women as they can cook quicker and in a more efficient manner hence protecting them from gender-based violence.

He said using gas in cooking gives children more time for studies instead of going to the bush to collect firewood. It protects the environment by preventing deforestation due to cutting down trees for charcoal and firewood.

Benoite said that women and children are exposed to a number of risks when searching firewood in the forests which includes being attacked by wild animals.

OGTL marketing manager, Peter Ndomba said the company continues to promote the use of clean energy and provide education to the public on how to safely use the stoves.

Ndomba said that in 2021, they conducted a village-to-village campaign to educate people on the importance of using gas for cooking where they also enhanced their distribution network to ensure the product is available all over the country.

"Tanzania has approximately 14 million households of which only two million use clean energy for cooking. Our aim is to ensure at least eight million households use clean energy,” he said.