By Wezi Tjaronda
WINDHOEK
A project to combat bush encroachment by using the vegetation for electricity generation has secured funding from the National Planning Commission’s Rural Poverty Reduction Programme (RPRP).
The aim of the project, Combatting Bush Encroachment for Namibia’s Development (C-Bend) is to assess the actual economics of generating electricity from invader bush and develop the best management practices for rural bush to energy.
When proved successful, the project, which starts September, will pave the way for the introduction of such technologies in rural communities and areas.
C-Bend is a collaborarative effort of the Desert Research Foundation Namibia (DRFN), Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) and Namibia National Farmer’s Union (NNFU). The project has signed a contract which will see the commissions poverty reduction programme disburse N$14 million.
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficient Capacity Building Project’s Caroline Coulson told New Era yesterday they are still working on where the project will be located. The project is expected to be located in one of the areas with a high density of invader bush around the north centrals areas of Tsumeb, Otavi and Grootfontein.
Other criteria to be considered for the project site include proximity of the areas to electricity, where the generated power can be fed into the national grid and also the willingness of farmers around those areas to have their farms used. The objective of the project is to get a bush to electricity enterprise up and running and through the enterprise hopefully change the perception that invader bush is a nuisance. The bush will be harvested sustainably as a resource in a way that it can be re-harvested in future.
Until now, the charcoal industry is the largest converter of invader bush to wood fuel substitutes. It produces about 30