Namibian charcoal producers warned about safety

With the charcoal production season getting under way in Namibia, that country’s directorate of forestry has issued a stern warning to stakeholders in the industry to adhere to the official manufacturing regulations or lose their permits.

The director of forestry, Johnson Ndokosho, said in a statement that Namibia had received aboveaverage rainfall during the 2021/22 season, resulting in exceptional grazing and, consequently, a high combustible fuel load.

“We are now entering winter, with vegetation becoming increasingly drier and flammable. We annually lose millions of hectares during the wildfire season, and that is why it is of utmost importance for the charcoal production industry to rigidly stick to the regulations,” Ndokosho said.

Thinus Pretorius, chairperson of Namibia’s Livestock Producers’ Organisation, told

Farmer’s Weekly that charcoal production played a valuable role in on-farm diversification and offered farmers a source of additional income.

Namibia’s De-bushing Advisory Service (DAS) also stressed on its website that the production of charcoal provided an additional income source for Namibian farmers and enterprises, while at the same time helping to rehabilitate degraded savannah ecosystems. This made Namibian charcoal a unique and sustainable alternative to charcoal from regions prone to unsustainable forest management and deforestation.

Production of lump charcoal was Namibia’s oldest biomass value chain and the most important contributor to the country’s efforts to control bush encroachment.

Since charcoal production permits were typically only issued for bushencroached areas, the biomass demand translated into bush harvesting of up to 60 000ha of land each year.

According to the DAS, wood for charcoal was harvested mainly from commercial livestock farms in central and northern Namibia, around Outjo, Grootfontein, Otjiwarongo and Okahandja. Encroacher species commonly used included blackthorn acacia ( Acacia mellifera/ Senegalia mellifera), red-bark acacia ( Acacia reficiens/ Vachellia reficiens), and other Acacia species. Approximately 5t of biomass were needed to produce 1t of charcoal, using conventional metal kilns.

The actual charcoalburning process currently supported approximately 6 000 workers, making the charcoal industry one of the largest employmentgenerating subsectors of the Namibian economy.

Most workers came from mobile and migrant populations, primarily from the Kavango and north-central regions. – Annelie Coleman