NEWS:

18 Jan, 2016


Dr Kamthunzi, holding briquettes generated from the briquetting machine (on his left)
As one of its initiatives in combating deforestation and mitigating impacts of climate change, the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) with funding from the Government of Norway, through funding from CABMACC, has initiated the biomass briquettes production project. The project aims to produce an energy source that will substitute and therefore eliminate reliance on firewood and charcoal energy. Currently, wood-based energy especially charcoal is a major driver of deforestation and environmental degradation which is one of the major causes of climate change.

Two phases of the project, Briquette production research and market trials have already been completed and briquettes used to sensitize communities are already being produced at the university, stated Principal Investigator, Dr Wellam Kanthunzi.

According to Tamara Nyirenda ,the Coordinator of the Briquette community project, the interventions are producing fuel briquettes that are made from agricultural and commercial residues. This process alone has reduced environmental related challenges associated with Municipal Solid Waste management in Lilongwe City. To facilitate this process, CABMACC purchased a briquette making machine from Sweden in 2014. According to Tamara, the machine can produce briquette from any lose material including saw dust, crop residuals, waste paper, wood shavings, groundnut shells and cattle dung. Tamara further indicated that the briquettes are cheaper than charcoal and there don’t produce sulfur thereby not contributing to environmental pollution.

However, due to several challenges faced by the community intervention, the university is now embarking on a research that is analyzing the efficiency of the produced briquettes. According to Dr Wellam Kanthunzi, the research objective is to establish the best materials that will be used to produce high quality, low smoke briquettes.

The Programme Coordinator for CABMACC Dr David Mkwambisi indicated that these interventions are important considering the intensity of forest degradation that is fast leaving bare Dzalanyama and many forest in Malawi. He argues that Malawi will continue to face erratic rains and soil degradation due to soil erosion if serious measures are not taken.

The rise in the magnitude of the impacts of deforestation has been an effective wake up call to most Malawians on the need to conserve forests through protection of existing forests and replanting of degraded ones. However, this is not enough, the adoption of Briquettes, among other alternative energy resources is of paramount importance.

Written by Christie Kang'ombe.