Sustainable Energy is needed for agricultural transformation in Ghana and Africa. KITA’s Center for Sustainable Energy conducts evidence based research, influences policies, informs practice, implements projects through collaboration with partners to provide sustainable energy solutions for the agricultural industry in Ghana. Solar PV, Biomass Energy, Clean Cookstoves, Biogas, Gasification, Small Hydro and Wind energy solutions for irrigation, food processing, agro-processing, food production, small and medium scale enterprises and communities are needed to transform the agro-industry in Ghana. Energy Efficiency is also a critical area for improvement of the water-food-energy nexus for sustainable development in Ghana
By conducting research, deploying solutions, implementing projects and developing practitioners, KITA envisages a transformed agricultural industry that meets the needs of the rural and urban poor, small holder farmers and provides transition to modernizing agriculture in Ghana.
Energy is needed in all aspects of agricultural and food production, processing, service provision and livelihoods improvement in Ghana. Sustainable energy solutions, provide the key to improving energy poverty among the rural poor.
Sustainable interventions such as solar water pumping for irrigated farms, solar heaters for drying of agricultural produce, solar cookers for low impact household cooking, solar lanterns for small holder farming families, solar hybrids with biomass for cooking, drying and heating and food processing, solar home systems.
KITA promotes biomass Energy use in Agriculture and Agro-processing. Improved cookstoves for households and agro-processing industries. Most households use traditional three stone stoves and coal puts which emits excessive smoke that affects the health of women and children, uses lots of fuelwood that increased deforestation and incomes of households and women involved in various agro-processing such as fish smoking, shea butter processing, gari processing, palm oil processing, palm kernel oil processing, peanut oil processing, coconut oil processing, rice parboiling among others.
KITA researches and develops innovative biomass solutions through partnerships and the deployment through various business models to make improved cookstoves and solar solutions available to end-users, small holder farmers and communities.
KITA also promotes biogas digesters for cooking and lighting. KITA with support from SNV Netherlands Development Organisation and the Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development constructed a 40m3 fixed dome biogas digester for students of the College of Tropical Agriculture at Domeabra in the Ashanti region. Through this partnership, KITA wishes to conducts indepth research into biogas digesters and its dissemination to institutions in Ghana.
KITA also constructed a 4m3 household floating drum Biogas Digester in collaboration with Green Microfinance for farming households in the domeabra community. The construction was done by CEESD the Center for Environment, Energy and Sustainable Development (CEESD) in Ghana. KITA is researching into the household biogas digester use to provide provides insight into best solutions for disseminating household digesters for farming families in Ghana.
KITA also researches into the use of gasifiers to provide electricity to power agricultural equipment for agro-processing. The gasifiers will also help provide electricity for households and communities. KITA recently won the Power Africa Energy Challenge to utilize gasifiers to produce electricity and power agricultural equipment for communities in Ghana, this project will provide the impetus for developing further solutions for the agro-industry. KITA wishes to use the experience from these and research to develop further gasification solutions for agro-processing and community lighting in Ghana.
Small hydro electricity generation is needed to support small farming communities in remote areas in Ghana to provide lighting and processing solutions. KITA is researching into the development of small hydro in Ghana to promote agricultural transformation in Ghana.
KITA is privileged to be in partnership with the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, the Green Microfinance NGO in the USA, the Power Africa Energy Challenge of USADF and the Institute for Sustainable Energy and Environmental Solutions (ISEES) and the Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (CEESD) in developing its renewable energy solutions for agricultural transformation in Ghana.
KITA wishes to receive more partnership with organizations and experts within the renewable energy industry, donors and development partners to bring sustainable energy solutions to the agricultural industry in Ghana. KITA also intends to use the knowledge developed to train experts for the renewable energy industry in Ghana.