Determinants of household cooking energy choice in Oyo State, Nigeria

Cooking energy is a vital aspect of life for the survival of any household. It is a daily affair since man must eat in order to continue to exist in this planet. Many types of cooking energy exist and households must appropriately choose among them. In making choices, certain factors influence households choice, hence the need for this study. The study examined the determinants of household cooking energy choice in Oyo state, Nigeria. Primary data was used for the study. The data was collected using structured questionnaires administered to 130 households. The households were sampled from main areas in Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyze the data. The result indicated that fuel wood, charcoal, kerosene, gas and electricity were the cooking energy used by households in the study area but kerosene was the most preferred. Kerosene is the cooking energy choice that households find it difficult to do without. The study further revealed that choice of cooking energy is influenced by some factors such as income of households, prevailing weather condition/ season of the year, types of houses/ dwelling place of households, price of cooking energy, nearness to sources and familiarity of household to a cooking energy choice. Households with high income per month often choose gas and electricity and used kerosene as a backup while those with low income per month often choose fuel wood, charcoal and kerosene. The level of satisfaction obtained from kerosene, gas and electricity were high, moderate and very high respectively. It is therefore recommended that government should provide means of increasing the welfare / standard of living of the households in the study area so that they will be able to afford gas and electricity as cooking energy choice. This will therefore protect them against the harmful effects of using charcoal, fuel wood and stove. Government and other stakeholders in power sector should also find permanent solution to the irregular electricity supply in the study area so that households will find its usage more dependable and reliable.