A brand-new green energy project has made its way from the United States of America to the North West province of South Africa. Considering the escalating operational costs of fertilisers, seeds and electricity, now is the right time for projects like this one to be made available to farmers.
The project is a collaboration between the North West department of agriculture and rural development and the University of Michigan from the US, and will be implemented at the Mahikeng-Kgora Farmer Training Centre.
As the country has seen regular power cuts over the past decade – and will likely continue to live with load shedding for the foreseeable future – renewable energy has become a powerful tool to mitigate the impact on farming operations, and to ensure sustainability in the sector.
This is exactly what the provincial government aims to achieve. The recently established state-owned training centre is based in Mahikeng, where farmers from across the province will be trained in agricultural theory, and provided with hands-on experience.
About 40 farmers in horticulture, dairy, poultry, livestock, grains and agro-processing are expected to be in the first round of training on the use of renewable energy. This, as power is a critical component in these branches of farming.
Extension officers also to be trained
North West agri MEC Desbo Mohono says unemployed agricultural college graduates will also be trained in the application of the different technologies, in order to provide energy-related extension services. They will also learn how to install, maintain and repair the technologies.
“It is a fact that, like seeds and fertilisers, electricity is a critically important input into successful farming. I am glad that we have started the work already with our partners from the University of Michigan.
“Beside the fact that we will not be polluting the environment with this technology, I am glad that the people whom I serve – the farmers – will benefit the most once this project is up and running,” said Mohono.
“It will not only save them money, but it will help them to become more competitive in South Africa’s very competitive food market,” she added.
The department underscored the importance of equipping farmers as a primary objective of the partnership with the university, a sentiment that was welcomed by Rabelani Namamilwe, a spinach farmer whose entire crop was destroyed due to an unexpected and prolonged power cut last year.
He said that renewable energy was the best, and maybe the only, route to take if one wanted to stay in business.
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Opportunity to enhance collaboration
Jack Teener and Rachel Kaup, two master’s degree students in agriculture from the University of Michigan, and their lecturer Prof. Jose Alfaro, are currently in the province to offer training and guidance to the local farmers and to familiarise them with renewable energy in farming.
According to the department, the trio will be developing training curricula and support the building and installation process of the prototypes.
The three representatives will also deliver the curricula to local farmers, along with students from the North West University and other agricultural colleges in the province.
“The identified farmers will learn skills to generate enough green electricity to cover their own use and perhaps sell a surplus,” the MEC said.
“Farmers will also be encouraged to develop energy cooperatives where they can cluster technologies and share the expenses of establishing the renewable energy systems.”
Teener says they are excited to be in the country and to learn how farmers in the province operate. But, most importantly, they are excited about enhancing collaboration.
“This is very exciting for us because, once the project is completed and farmers have been trained, it will allow them to have a consistent source of electricity.
” It will also allow them to carry on with their day-to-day farming activities with fewer interruptions and at lower expenses than they currently have with load shedding and rising electricity prices in the country.”
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