The first Biomass Technology Demonstration Day has taken place to showcase the current solutions to the bush encroachment problem in Namibia and take the Namibian biomass industry forward.
Namibia Biomass Industry Group (N-BiG) General Manager Colin Lindeque says the event was attended by over 400 people and comprised a diverse group of representatives from the biomass sector including harvesters, producers, communal farmers, commercial farmers, members of the public and mature and young entrepreneurs.
The full day of technology demonstrations showcased over 33 technologies from 29 exhibitors and over 15 live demonstrations. This included technology for bush-to-animal feed, firewood, woodchips, retort charcoal, compressed firewood, manual harvesting, semi-mechanised harvesting, fully-mechanised harvesting and drones.
“One truth in Namibia is that seeing is believing,” said Lindeque.
“Many farmers see brochures and videos, but they do not believe it until they can see it in action. That is what this event is about, we tried to bring together the farmers, SMEs and entrepreneurs to dispose of the brochures and sales talks to see the equipment in action for themselves.
Lindeque added that the aim was to support improved linkages among those with the biomass and entrepreneurs offering the services and technologies in Namibia as well as in neighbouring countries.
“The Paratus mobile VSAT Solution was brilliant,” he said.
“The organising team used it throughout the event to upload live videos, communicate and access the Internet.”
