A stove for all seasons

This "stove for all seasons" can shoo away your woes.

In these cold times, for instance, it can come handy in boiling water for a hot bath, especially for those who cannot stand cold water for a shower. In the process, one can save on expensive fuel gas.

It can also help solve the perennial problem of disposal of big mounds of rice hull (ipa), which are considered agricultural wastes and are usually burned or left in the field to rot. Reason is, this stove uses ipa as fuel.

In a broader plane, it can help save what is left of the country’s forest resources. Thing is, people at the foot of mountains usually go into the forests to gather fuelwood, at times cutting trees if they cannot find dry branches or twigs on the forest floor.

This cooking device is called "Maligaya rice hull store," which was designed by Dr. Eugelito Bautista and Artemio Basallo, agricultural engineers of the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice), primarily to help solve the problem of rice hull disposal.

A recipient of a United Nations-Food and Agriculture Organization (UN-FAO) award, this environment-friendly, practically smokeless stove can boil a liter of water in four to five minutes and can burn for 28 minutes, enough to cook rice and vegetable viand for a family of five.

For budget-conscious households, it is efficient and economical, costing only P500 (if made of GI sheet) and P1,000 (stainless material).

With its outstanding features, the stove can come to the rescue of hard-pressed families not only during cold months when one usually boils water for a hot bath or coffee but also during other times of the year when it can be used to cook one’s food.

For one, Basallo once told this writer, the fuel is free–all one has to do is to go to the field and scoop from those mountains of rice hull.

On the national level, it can help the government save what remains of the trees in the forests. As a participant in a hands-on training on the stove in Midsayap, North Cotabato said.:

"The Maligaya rice hull stove could be a solution to the deforestation problem in Mindanao. The demand for firewood encourages cutting of trees. If rice hull, which abounds in major rice-producing areas in Mindanao, should be used as firewood substitute, cutting of trees could be minimized."

As of this writing, many farm tools manufacturers have produced thousands of the stove, with PhilRice providing the design for free.

Maligaya rice hull store, anyone? – Rudy A. Fernandez