African Sun, Jamataka Group Tour Off-Grid Farm
Pauline Dikuelo | Monday September 21, 2020 15:38
The company alongside the Jamataka community toured the Mokubilo Farm Project, which is an off-grid community where the Innovative SolaNetwork project is creating Botswana’s first community clean energy hub.
The Jamataka community has a plan to establish a local, community commercial farm project that will supply the local schools and families with fresh vegetables in addition to possible sales to neighbouring communities.
African Sun Energy’s Engineer and Business Development Manager, Amos Chenamani said solar energy is effective in the agricultural sector as it contributed to the reduction of operational costs, thereby providing energy security and increasing profitability.
“We hope that by helping the local community establish this project, it will go a long way in ensuring that they become self-sufficient,” Chenamani said.
“In addition to that, we hope that this will ease the challenges that come with buying electricity and diesel to operate pumps that provide water.”
According to Chenamani, the aim is to demonstrate that solar energy, which is very clean and safe for the environment, can be utilized to advance societal and business growth.
The Mokubilo Farm Project was funded by Lundin Foundation, a Canadian non-profit making organisation, in partnership with Lucara Botswana.
Like the Jamataka Farm Project, the initiative was aimed at sustaining and improving nutritional status in the village.
The Jamataka community had the opportunity to see how establishing something similar could work for them and potentially guarantee a generous supply of vegetables for their community as well.
On his part, African Sun Energy director, Robert Hanna said the key mandate of the initiative is to provide the community with the technology and skills to fully utilise solar energy to enhance their way of life.
“With grid electricity becoming more and more expensive and unreliable, Batswana could really benefit from taking advantage of the vast amount of sunlight they receive,” Hanna said.
“We hope that this project can enable us to aid in pushing forward two of the nation’s 2036 pillars that support a sustainable environment as well as sustainable economic development.”
African Sun Energy Botswana is an innovative clean energy company developing new technologies and clean energy services to support implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
It currently supports design, build, finance and operate of both on grid / off-grid and grid-tied solutions and that require clean energy.