Sub-Saharan Africa, Namibia in particular, is at the crossroads of systematic deficiencies in agricultural output. It is estimated that 70% of the Namibian population depends on agriculture in terms of employment, income, and food security.
The value added to the sector in the third quarter of 2022 was estimated to be N$3.2 billion in nominal terms, representing 6.4% of the GDP, according to the NSA.
The agricultural sector continues to be the lowest contributor to the country’s GDP among the major industries of the economy. Namibia’s agricultural sector growth rate has declined to 1.6% during 2022. Fertiliser, being one of the most important agricultural inputs for crop production remains an imported input commodity into Namibia.
According to the Namibian Agronomic Board, Namibia is a net importer of fertiliser with 90% being imported from South Africa and the rest sourced from the Russian Federation, Chile, China, and Malaysia. The implementation of renewable energy in Namibia started to gain considerable attention in recent years because of the plentiful renewable sources, particularly solar and the strong correlation between energy consumption and gross domestic product.
At the same time, Namibia is struggling to feed its population because the country does not get much rainfall and has severe drought conditions annually which affect crop yield. In a 2022 study done by Yale School of the Environment, it is indicated that using green ammonia (‘green’ in the sense that it is made with renewable energy) for fertilizer, fuel, and heat could drive down farming’s carbon footprint by as much as 90% for grain crop production.
Green ammonia is crucial in agriculture as it tends to bind airborne nitrogen and makes nitrogen the most important crop nutrient for nitrogen fertiliser production. The demand for green ammonia is increasing with the growing population and rising need for green fertilisers. Nitrogen is required to produce proteins in the plant cell which are vital for many chemical processes and intracellular transport, thus impacting the growth of crops.
Namibia being at the centre stage of the world with regard to green hydrogen production, plans are underway to curb the high volume of fertiliser importation and ultimately use the locally produced green ammonia to improve crop yield. And with that, Daures Green Hydrogen Village and other renewable energy entities are some of the locomotives that Namibia can make use of towards the production of the green ammonia fertilisers.
With the local production of green ammonia, the initial use of ammonia can be converted into fertiliser and with surplus, Namibia as a country can aim to provide ammonia at regional and as well as global use of which Asia-Pacific could be one of the potential export markets considering that Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing green ammonia market.
*Gervasius Thikusho holds a BSc Degree in Agricultural Economics (UNAM), BSc HonoursAgricultural Economics (UFS), SMDP (USB), MBA (Steinbeis University) and is now busy with a certification in Green Hydrogen and Renewable Power-to-X Professional with the Renewable Academy (RENAC) in Germany. He is reachable on thikushogreece@gmail.com
