6 February 2012 Last updated at 08:03

In pictures: Making charcoal from Liberian rubber trees

A boy holding a log in Liberia (Photo Tamasin Ford)

Less than 1% of Liberians have access to modern fuels – the lowest number in the world, according to the UN. They tend to rely on the by-product of one of this small West Africa nation's biggest exports – rubber – to be able to cook and heat their water. Discarded wood from rubber plantations is often made into charcoal.

Women walking with logs of wood on their heads (Photo Tamasin Ford)

The stumps and branches of rubber trees, which are cut down after about 25 years, are left by plantations for people to take for free. Women make up the majority of charcoal producers and sellers and they walk up to three miles (about 5km) from the plantations to their homes with the wood carefully balanced on their heads.

The lack of modern equipment like chainsaws means charcoal producers use machetes to chop the wood.

Piles of chopped wood about to be set alight to make charcoal, Liberia (Photo Tamasin Ford)

Earth mound kilns are made by stacking the wood into piles. They are then covered with leaves and dirt and set on fire.

A man prepares a smoking kiln for making charcoal in in Liberia (Photo Tamasin Ford)

It can take up to two or three months from collecting the wood and making the kilns before the charcoal is ready.

Several charcoal-making kilns in Liberia at various stages of production (Photo Tamasin Ford)

Most of Liberia’s population relies on wood and charcoal for their daily energy needs, compared to the world’s average of 50%. Charcoal is often preferred to wood as a cooking fuel as it does not produce as much smoke and is easier to transport.

The charcoal is collected from the bottom of the kilns and put into large sacks. Each kiln produces between 80 and 100 bags, which are sold to wholesalers for around 120 to 150 Liberian dollars ($1.09, £1.35). The charcoal market in the capital, Monrovia, alone is worth between $15m and $25m a year.

A truck loaded with bags of charcoal (Photo Tamasin Ford)

Most of the charcoal is transported to sell in Monrovia's markets. Prices are among the lowest in Africa and much cheaper than using kerosene or gas - something the government will have to tackle if it is to meet its 2015 energy target of increasing the population’s access to more modern cooking fuels to 40%.

Bags of charcoal stacked in front of logs of wood in Liberia (Photo Tamasin Ford)

The industry is largely unregulated and Liberia’s Charcoal Union wants a tax imposed to help develop communities that make the charcoal, as once the rubber production moves to different sections of the plantation estates, their livelihoods disappear.

A man rows a boat on a river surrounded by lush rainforest vegetation in Liberia (Photo: Sapo National Park)

About half of West Africa’s remaining rainforest is situated in Liberia. While most of the wood for charcoal production comes from used rubber trees, there are fears charcoal-makers may enter the forests to chop down trees as some plantation owners are now starting to charge for their discarded logs. By: Tamasin Ford

Africa

In pictures: Making charcoal from Liberian rubber trees

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