By Donald Nyarota.
MUTARE, Zimbabwe. (News Of The South)- Government is obliged to invest in renewable, sustainable energy to protect vulnerable rural communities outside the main electric grid as well as enhancing food security, a European Union official has said.
This call was made by Severin Mellac an attaché responsible for Economic Cooperation and Food Security, at the commissioning of an 80KW micro hydro power plant at Himalaya in Zimunya-Mutare rural district.
The renewable energy generated from the micro hydro power plant, sponsored to the tune of $200 000 will provide sustainable cooperative projects for a total of 110 households in the mountainous area.
The generated power, which can reach up to 120KW during the rainy season, will drive two irrigation schemes covering a combined area of 25 hectares, set up power kiosks for a saw mill, grinding mill, carpentry shop, dressmaking shop and a tuck shop.
The project was facilitated by EU through its implementing partners Oxfam and Practical Action which worked with the Himalaya community.
Mellac believes such concrete interventions which provide tangible benefits to communities are an impetus for government to prioritize sustainable, clean, alternative and renewable energy.
Without this substantial capital investment these families would be condemned to add to the numbers of hungry Zimbabweans in need of food assistance, at a time when government is reeling from under performance in the agricultural sector.
Coupled with the penetration of local farmers into tobacco farming to boost capital inflows, food security has now become a secondary issue despite looming hunger.
Sporadic periods of droughts have also affected the agricultural sector leaving farmers in dry areas of Manicaland battling to raise their productivity and this has worsened food insecurity for most rural communities Himalaya not spared.
Mellac believes without government’s significant investment into sustainable and renewable energy food security will largely remain a pipe dream for disadvantaged rural communities which are trapped in a cycle of poverty.
He said government should emulate the international stance on the use of renewable energy towards attainment of sustainable development, particularly towards mitigating against adverse effects of climate change.
“The increasing use of renewable energy is now a priority for the international world and in Zimbabwe the EU consider renewable energy as an important enabler for livelihood improvement and economic growth,” he said.
Mellac also revealed that the use of alternative, clean and renewable energy was a key opportunity towards fighting climate change.
According to the minister of Energy and Power Development Dr Samuel Undenge in Zimbabwe a paltry 37%, of a total population standing just above 13 million, have access to the main electricity grid. Of this 37%, 83% are in urban areas leaving rural folks with just 13% access to the national electricity grid.
These sombre figures reflect an untenable situation with regards to protection of subsistent farmers and rural folk in rural areas who represent 61%, inversely the larger proportion of the population.
Dr Undenge says government through its economic blue print, ZIMASSET has set energy efficiency targets aimed at increasing the use of renewable energy by 300MW by 2018. He said such a proactive policy direction was also complemented by incentives for the use of renewable energy.
Government will also develop a renewable energy policy to develop a guidelines and a road map for creating a more conducive environment to attract investment in the sector, Dr Undenge revealed.
Community beneficiaries of the project said this intervention would go a long way towards providing food security and alleviating poverty in their community.
Chairman of Simbengadzibve cooperative irrigation scheme said the community had actively participated in the realization of the project by contributing their voluntary labour in setting up power lines.
“We are very grateful to the EU, Oxfam and Practical Action which came and mobilized us to work for the realization of this project. The community was very forthcoming because they knew this was their project,” he said.
Practical Action head of energy access Godfrey Sibanda said the Himalaya community received capacity building in maintenance and set up of the project as a way of ensuring the sustainability of the project. He said as an organization with multiple interests in the region this was a deliberate approach to empower host communities.
“Our approach is to train communities on how to build the systems because once they are able to build the systems they are able to maintain the system. So we have a training program that capacitates the local community so that when we pull out they are able to repair the system and that’s sustainability we are talking about,” he said.
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