According to the Renewable Energy Policy for Uganda over 90% of the total energy requirements in Uganda is derived from biomass of which 88% and 6% are attributed to fuel wood and charcoal respectively. Charcoal is mostly used in urban and peri-urban areas because of its associated advantages notably “clean” energy, low bulkiness and high calorific value compared to other biomass sources of energy. According to UBOS, (2009) 70% of urban dwellers in Uganda use charcoal as a source of energy.
Charcoal production continues to be a source of income for local people and local governments especially in the dry belts. It is also a source of employment at the production stage especially to those people who have no formal education in the charcoal producing areas and those with no alternative source of income. However recently there more investors (some educated) in this trade who pay labourers in the villages to produce charcoal on a large scale. Charcoal is mostly produced from natural forests and Savanna woodlands, of which about 70% are on land that is privately owned (MWLE, 2001).