Lusaka charcoal usage worries Mukanga | Source: Times of Zambia – Sept 25 2012
MINES, Energy and Water Development Minister Yamfwa Mukanga has bemoaned the high levels of charcoal consumption in Lusaka now estimated at K150 billion per annum.
It is for that reason that Mr Mukanga said his ministry valued innovations like the Bio-Char Briquettes production and marketing as a sustainable substitute to the uncontrolled charcoal production.
Mr Mukanga said this when he officiated at the launch of the training of trainers for Bio-Char Briquettes Production workshop at the University of Zambia’s Technology Development and Advisory Unit (TDAU) in Lusaka yesterday.
Mr Mukanga said the current rate of tree cutting in Zambia outstripped that of tree planting and natural tree regeneration, and that it was evident that the trend was unsustainable, warning that an energy crisis was imminent unless swift innovative interventions were undertaken.
He said just over 20 per cent of the Zambian households had direct connectivity to electricity, leaving nearly 80 per cent of the country’s population dependent on firewood and charcoal for cooking and heating, adding that the ratio was more skewed in rural areas with over three per cent having access to electricity.
A study undertaken by the Programme for Biomass Energy and Conservation (PROBEC) with the help of Technoshare in 2007 revealed that Lusaka alone consumes on average 2.3 million by 70 kg bags of charcoal per annum.
“This was valued at an estimated K150 billion worth of charcoal. When other towns on the Copperbelt and provincial centres are included, the picture becomes even gloomier,” he said.
Mr Mukanga said based on the studies, it was clear to note that the rate of uncontrolled tree cutting had serious environmental consequences like drying of water sources, depletion of the Carbon Sink consequently depletion of the Ozone Layer thereby leading to the evident Climate Change conditions.
“It is for this reason that my ministry values innovations like Bio-Char Briquettes production and marketing which if correctly implemented should offer a credible and more sustainable substitute to the uncontrolled charcoal production,” he said.
He said the ministry was anxious to support development and promotion of alternative energy sources which were economically and environmentally sustainable and thus thanked the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) for coming up with the Bio-Char Briquettes production and marketing programme as it would greatly contribute to addressing some of the country’s challenges in the energy sector.
SNV acting country director Chanda Mongo said in May, this year his organisation in partnership with Hivos, the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Water Development and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock undertook a feasibility study to determine the potential of implementing a biogas programme in selected Zambian provinces with a high cattle population.
“Following the encouraging level of potential which was established from the feasibility study, we would like to start a pilot programme of training masons who can then be engaged to build bio digesters for cattle and pig farmers who will express serious interest in the technology.
“It is for this reason that we have recommended for the appointment of a Biogas Core Group, the equivalent of a Steering Committee. The primary responsibility of this core group will be to oversee the development and implementation of the biogas programme. That is the approach we have used in the countries where we have successfully implemented this programme,” he said.
He was hopeful that the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock would expedite the process so as to start the laying of the foundation for a visible biogas programme in Zambia before the end of this year.
UNZA vice chancellor Stephen Simukanga in a speech read for him by the university’s registrar Kavwanga Yambayamba said the Bio-Char Briquettes would be made from dry agro and forest waste and that SNV would later contract TDAU to train potential entrepreneurs in the production and marketing of that technology in Lusaka, Kitwe and Samfya as pioneer districts.
SNV engaged Tanzanian-based Appropriate Rural Technologies Institute (ARTI) Energy to conduct the training ending on September 28, 2012. Using the Bio-Char Briquettes is believed to be up to 20 per cent cheaper than charcoal.
