Predictors of Households’ Adoption of Gas Cooking Stove in Some Rural Communities of Abia and Ebonyi States, Southeast Nigeria

Abstract

This paper aims at the factors that predict household’s adoption of gas cooking stoves in selected rural communities of Southeast Nigeria. Leaning on theories of Knowledge gap, Groupthink, Technological determinism and Innovation Diffusion, it explores the theme of adoption as a selective process while interrogating the idea of an energy ladder. The paper probes the factors that accentuate poor energy choices in the face of availability of the better domestic energy source, gas. Based on data from 600 respondents, 300 from each of the southeastern Nigeria states of Abia and Ebonyi, an ordinal regression in the form of a Generalized Linear Model was used to predict the proportional odds of the dependent ordinal variables. Parameter estimates of the regression model predicting ordinal likelihood (odds) of using cooking gas indicate that none of the categories underage bracket were significant. The odds of households with male heads having very high usage of cooking gas stove were 1.563 (95% CI, .882 to 1.830) times more than that of households with female heads. The odds are against larger households; households with heads that are of lower education levels; households that regularly cook with fuelwood and those with lower income. The study recommends advocacy to bridge the knowledge gap and a subsidization regime that can overcome the income challenge.