18 Jun 2020

The charcoal project undertaken by Lake Ngami Conservation Trust is reported to be facing challenges despite that they have secured a lucrative market.

The project started as a pilot project and now the trust wanted to produce more charcoal as they had secured a stable market both locally and internationally.

The project is carried out within the lake and the trust has been advised to conduct Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in order to continue with production.

In an interview, the trust vice chairperson, Mr Verukua Tjitemisa revealed that they had requested a waiver from the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism to continue with the project pending EIA.

Currently, he said, the charcoal project was up and running but they experienced low production because of shortage of manpower. 

Since the drying of the lake, he added, they had to retrench some of their employees and left only four.

Mr Tjitemisa explained that charcoal production was a labour-intensive process and they could not produce more with the little personnel.

Although he admitted that the demand for the charcoal was high as they had secured a lucrative market, both locally and internationally, adding that it was unfortunate as they could not meet the demand.

The trust, he said, secured a market in South Africa, Namibia and some local supermarkets, adding that currently they were supplying locally as they were unable to meet the international demand.

He also noted that the project was not making better profits as expected. The trust has 36 kilns which produce charcoal, but it could not use all of them.

 “If we could use all the kilns, we will be able to increase production and supply more to generate income,” he added.

Mr Tjitemisa noted that initially, they engaged the communities affiliated to the trust to collect and sell firewood, while some could supply the trust with finished charcoal, but they were not coming forth.

He said there was plenty of dead acacia wood to harvest for production, adding that since the water sources had started filling up, the dead trees would be submerged by the floods and wished the community could play their role towards the project.

He stated that they pinned their hopes on the project to boost their financial muscles as the fishing activity was suspended because the lake had dried up.

Mr Tjitemisa also pointed out that the trust looked for alternative economic benefits such as fish festival but that did not materialise because of lack of water at the lake.

He emphasised that it was critical for the trusts to engage in activities that would result in financial gain and sustain the communities.

Department of Environmental Affairs coordinator, Mr Jobe Manga explained that the trust had been advised to develop Environmental Management Plan (EMP) and submit it for assessment and approval.

Initially, he said, the trust was given a waiver as the charcoal project was a pilot one and since they wanted to produce more, they were advised to follow the right procedure. Mr Manga noted that they were still waiting for the submission of the EMP. ends