Overview

SCF is providing technical assistance to TERRAGRN, a private sector enterprise cultivating & operating large biodiverse agroforests. In South Africa, over the next 5-6 years, TERRAGRN aims to grow an agroforest on approx. 200,000 ha on unutilized land in the major coal mining province Mpumalanga with the objective to create new jobs and to produce green energy.

The agroforest will include:

➢ 40% bamboo plants (non-invasive, clumping varieties) to produce pellets, pulp, biochar and activated carbon for industrial customers. 

➢ 40% fruit trees and food/ cover crops (citrus fruits, olives, apricots, pecan nuts, cereal crops for community sustenance and commerce).

➢ 20% other indigenous trees

The forest would be FSC, SBP and PEFC certified.

Bamboo is widely recognized as an effective & highly renewable tool for climate change mitigation (it emits 35% more oxygen than other plants and absorbs 40% more CO2). It also has a good potential for generation of thermal energy and electricity through gasification (comparable to wood + timber).

The Challenge

South Africa faces a convergence of challenges that threaten both rural livelihoods and long-term economic resilience. Smallholder farmers across provinces such as Mpumalanga and Limpopo continue to face limited market access, fragmented value chains, declining soil quality, and increasing climate-related risks, resulting in low productivity and constrained income opportunities. At the same time, the country is seeking to strengthen food security, accelerate rural economic development, and diversify its energy mix through sustainable, locally sourced renewable energy solutions.

While bamboo presents significant potential as a climate-smart crop—offering carbon sequestration, land restoration benefits, sustainable biomass production, and opportunities for value-added processing—the commercial viability of integrated bamboo agroforestry systems remains largely untested at scale in South Africa. Key questions remained around feedstock performance, market opportunities, smallholder integration, operational models, and the ability to attract investment capable of supporting large-scale deployment.

SCF’s Involvement – Technical Assistance

The Subnational Climate Fund (SCF) supported TerraGRN through a series of technical assistance studies designed to strengthen the project’s commercial viability and investment readiness. The studies focused on:

• Assessing bamboo’s suitability as a biomass feedstock for renewable energy generation through gasification.
• Identifying barriers facing smallholder farmers and agricultural value chains in Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
• Evaluating opportunities to improve productivity and resilience through regenerative agriculture.
• Developing a scalable operating model for engaging smallholders in integrated agricultural and bamboo value chains.
• Identifying high-impact interventions capable of improving livelihoods while strengthening food security and environmental outcomes.

So far, bamboo has been typically used for combustion processes in boilers (in the form of pellets). Combustion technology is typically used for electricity production on a larger scale (+ 10 MW) while gasification technology is used for smaller scale electricity production (less than 1 MW). TERRAGRN believes that gasification technology has a very strong potential for electricity production – this is why this study looks at the potential of bamboo for electricity generation through gasification specifically. In the long-term, the project will aim to produce and export 50% pellets for combustion and 50% of raw feedstock for gasification, depending on market conditions.  

The study will analyze the following aspects in more detail:  

• Study fuel characteristics of raw bamboo as feedstock in gasification
• Evaluate all aspects of gasification performance: compare to conventional feedstock and other gasification methods used internationally, report on gasification efficiency, reference to any international emission standards
• Analyse characteristics and efficiency of biochar produced per process of cycle of gasification on a 100 kg per hour capacity setup
• Set-up & document process for electricity production, analyse and report on heat/energy loss, report on inefficiencies that could be observed on industrializing the gasification process for higher capacities (1-5 MW)
• Confirm type of generator engines that could be used
• Demonstrate working process to TERRAGRN team and partners
• Prepare brief background and scale of projects previously executed for TERRAGRN to share with their partners and investors (purpose of project e.g. heat production, heat and electricity or couples with cooling systems, etc.).