WINDHOEK, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- Namibia has potential to harness up to 300 million tonnes of biomass, providing the country with an unlimited resource which is high in demand globally, according German government agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) project team leader, Frank Gschwender.
Namibia is currently affected by bush encroachment on a massive scale and affects an estimated 30 million hectares of farmland in nine of the 14 regions, which translates to around 30 percent of Namibia's land area.
To support bush control and bush utilization initiatives in the country, a one-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between AgriBank Namibia, the Agriculture Ministry (MAWF) and GIZ, was inked on Wednesday in Windhoek.
According to Gschwender, the knowledge of the opportunities created through biomass is crucial for the industry and with the cooperation it can be seen as a roadmap to create financial models suited to boost the bush-based biomass industry.
General Manager Corporate Services of Agribank Namibia, Regan Mwazi said the MoU will cover the areas for cooperation that include product developments, loan risk assessments, information sharing, capacity building and monitoring and evaluating the implementation of bush control and biomass utilization activities.
Meanwhile, De-bushing Advisory Services, a national information platform relating to bush control and value addition to bush, will be the main cooperator in the implementation of the agreement.
The MAWF/GIZ support to the de-bushing project was established through a bilateral cooperation between the German and Namibian governments to develop, improve and implement strategies on sustainable bush control.
