Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, Minister for Petroleum says government under the Rural Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Programme will scale up the distribution of free cylinders, cookstoves and related accessories to beneficiaries in low access areas.

He said this was being done to enable rural dwellers switch easily from wood fuels to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) without paying for the initial investment costs.

“Government seeks to create demand in these low access areas to incentivize private LPG marketing companies to set up there,” Mr Buah stated on Tuesday in Accra at the ongoing Clean Cooking Forum 2015; which brought together more than 500 leaders and experts from 50 countries.

The biennial event, taking place from November 10-13, is being held for the first time in West Africa, is part of a global effort to create a thriving global market for clean and efficient cookstoves and fuels.

Organized by the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and the Ghana Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, the Forum would feature four days of meetings, panel discussions and cultural events, as well as showcase Ghana's own progress on the clean cooking issue.

“To this end, I am proud to share with you that, last year we distributed 13,000 cylinders, cookstoves and related accessories to households in the three Northern Regions, Central, Western and Brong Ahafo Regions, he said.

“This year, we plan to scale up the distribution to 40,000 cylinders and cookstoves. So far we have been able to distribute 20,000 cylinders and cookstoves in eight districts. We hope to distribute additional 20,000 cylinders and cookstoves by the end of the year,” the Minister observed.

"Ghana has made large strides toward increasing access to cleaner-burning cooking fuels.

"The Clean Cooking Forum will serve as a great opportunity to showcase Ghana's work on increasing energy access and improving the lives of all Ghanaians through the broader use of clean and efficient cookstoves and fuels,” he added.

He said it was estimated that about 13,700 deaths occur each year in Ghana as a result of exposure to household air pollution (HAP) from cooking, and more than 21 million people are impacted by exposure to HAP each year.

In addition, more than 80 per cent of Ghana's population uses solid fuels for cooking, which has widespread impacts on human health and the environment.

“Ghana has taken significant steps to increase access to cleaner, more efficient cookstoves and fuels, making it a fitting place to celebrate the growing momentum in the sector,” said Radha Muthiah, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, which is co-hosting the Forum.

Mr Nicholas Manu, GHACCO Board Chairman, said his organisation’s goal is serve as a strong stakeholder platform to lead the front to catalyse a revolution in the cook stove sector and mobilize high level national and donor commitments towards the goal of universal adoption of clean and improved cook stoves in Ghana.

He assured that the network had an overriding target to foster the adoption of clean cook stoves by four million households in Ghana and distributing five million cook stoves by 2020