Recently, it has been argued that, contrary to earlier energy ladder thinking, households in developing countries do not switch to modern energy sources but instead tend to consume a combination of fuels. This article aimed to gather a better understanding of the relative importance of fuel substitution and fuel complementation, especially among charcoal, fuel briquettes and kerosene, and the factors associated with these choices. In this paper we present results of a household survey conducted during October 2010 in Kibera slums in Nairobi, Kenya. The results revealed that widely various household characteristics influence demand for charcoal and briquettes for cooking. In addition to these factors, the household income level affects the use of kerosene for cooking. At the same time, we found the fact households tend to switch to multiple fuels strategy as their increasing in income instead of completely switching from the consumption of traditional fuels to modern energy sources.

Abstract-In Kenya, charcoalis an important energy resource for cooking. As better energy alternatives become available and affordable in developing countries, households tend to switch from traditional biomass to modern fuels such as liquid petroleum gas, kerosene, and electricity.Meanwhile, fuel briquettes recycled from charcoal dust are gaining popularity as alternate fuel in urban poor households. The valuing of energy services is important for policy planning and for improving the socioeconomic conditions and environments of households. The objective of this study is to better understand the relative importance of fuel substitution, especially with regard to charcoal, fuel briquettes, and kerosene, and the factors associated with their choice. To estimate the product-specific factors, we conduct a choice experiment study in Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya, by applying a conditional logit model and random parameter logit model. The study revealed household preferences for modern energy sources and several characteristics affecting consumer choice.

In Kenya, woody biomass, especially the charcoal derived from it, is an important energy resource for cooking. As better energy alternatives become available and affordable in developing countries, households tend to switch from traditional biomass to modern fuels such as liquid petroleum gas, kerosene, and electricity. This fuel-switching pattern is often called the 'energy ladder', the ladder steps representing upgrades in the quality of energy services. Meanwhile, fuel briquettes recycled from charcoal dust are gaining popularity as an alternate fuel in urban households facing problems of waste management. The valuing of energy services is important for policy planning and for improving the socioeconomic conditions and environments of households. The objective of this study is to assess the current energy use status of the urban poor in Kenya. More specifically, the study aims to better understand the relative importance of fuel substitution, especially with regard to charcoal, fuel briquettes, and kerosene, and the factors associated with their choice. To estimate the product-specific factors, we conducted a choice experiment study of households in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya, by applying a conditional logit model to identify the various socioeconomic characteristics that determine household preferences for cooking fuels. The study revealed household preferences for modern energy sources and several characteristics affecting consumer choice.

New approaches and tools are needed to enable land tenancy arrangements in the developing countries to specify the landlord-tenant relationship in general and particularly in the targeted study area Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan. So this research work applied a multi-criteria decision making approach (MCDM) to investigate the important factors which greatly impact on initial signing process of land tenancy contracts between landlords and tenants by using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) as a tool. This qualitative decision making technique has not been used extensively in the country especially in the landlord tenant relations. For the purpose field survey was conducted in August 2015 and interviewed 10 respondents (landlords and tenants) in a hypothetical situation from the baseline survey through a well-developed questionnaire by using Tones method in AHP. However, AHP is a methodology that facilitates respondents to trade off nonmarket factors of land tenancy contracts. Thus, the information was collected for the important factors (criterion) which has great effect in the initial contract agreement in the landlord-tenant relationship in our research area within each tenancy contract (alternative), then the important factors were incorporated in the AHP framework and subjected to the landlord-tenant judgments for each tenancy contract. The finalized factors were character, financial position, men power, experience, reference, land condition and house availability. The results of the AHP application to data collected from six different villages found that landlords' preferences are strongest for character, men power in share cropping, distance, financial position in fixed contract, experience and men power in owner cultivation and the tenant's partialities are strongest for house availability, financial position in share contract, land condition, reference in lease contract and in owner cultivation nothing found important. In overall, it was found that the dominant choice in the tenancy contract for landlords are share contract 45.7%, followed by rent contract 30.9% and less important owner cultivation 22.3% and in case of tenants it was found that the most preferable land tenancy contract is sharecropping 51.7% and fixed contract 41.7%, less effective 6.25% owner cultivation in the selected study villages. This study recommends that the agriculture and extension services departments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to apply AHP as tool in the wide range of multi sector in agriculture decisions, such as to determine best allocation for farm production, adaptation of latest technological tools and choices among different food and cash crop.

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