Socioeconomic and Cultural Determinants of Biomass Briquette Adoption in Voi Sub-County, Taita Taveta County, Kenya

Background: Approximately 600 million Africans cook using traditional and polluting biomass energy, which poses several health and environmental risks. Objective: This study examined the influence of awareness, affordability, accessibility, and cultural cooking norms on adoption of a cleaner and sustainable biomass briquette cooking energy. Methodology: A total of 402 households were surveyed through a questionnaire in a cross-sectional study that yielded a 90.3% response rate. Results: In the descriptive analysis, low level of adoption (Mean = 2.08; SD = 0.29) was recorded through a 5-point Likert scale on a total of (24) items. For the predictor variables each containing (8) items, awareness (M=2.70, SD=0.37), affordability (M=2.60, SD=0.37) and accessibility (M=2.62, SD=0.36) of biomass briquette energy scored below the mid-point while cultural cooking norms scored above the mid-point (M=3.51, SD=0.51). The regression model showed statistical significance F (4, 362) = 142.745, p < .001 and explained 61.5% of the variance in adoption (R² = 0.615). Discussion: The most powerful predictor of adoption was awareness (β = 0.401, p < 0.001), followed by accessibility (β = 0.366, p < 0.001), and affordability (β = 0.200, p < 0.001). Cultural cooking norms (β = –0.193, p < .001) acted as a barrier to adoption. Conclusions: Adoption of biomass briquette energy in Voi is determined by awareness, accessibility and affordability of the fuel, while traditional cooking norms hinder adoption. Recommendations: To boost adoption, efforts should focus on marketing campaigns, strengthening of local supply chains, introduction of producer and consumer subsidies, and extensive demonstration programs.