Every year Zimbabwe is losing
tree cover equivalent to three times the size of Harare, the Forestry Commission
of Zimbabwe (FCZ) has revealed.While the majority of trees are being
felled for domestic use, a sizeable chunk of that vegetation is being consumed
by tobacco farmers whose numbers have phenomenally rose over the past few years
as the golden leaf remains the country’s only commercially viable crop on the
back of a poorly performing agricultural sector.“
The national rate of
deforestation currently stands at more than 300 000 hectares per annum, of
which approximately 15 percent is attributable to tobacco production activities
(that include) land clearing for tobacco farming and collection of firewood for
tobacco curing,” said Darlington Duwa, FCZ general manager, at a tree planting
day event in Madziwa, Mashonaland Central on Saturday.
Simplified, the
300 000ha is equivalent to 3 000 square kilometres or three times the size of
Harare, which is estimated to be covering an area just over 1 000 square
kilometres. Given the gravity of the matter, the Minister for Environment,
Water and Climate, Saviour Kasukuwere, expressed grave concern at
the rate of deforestation and said this had actually prompted government to
institute statutory instrument 116 of 2012 that compels all flue-cured tobacco
farmers to establish fast growing tree species for their future energy needs.
“Forests
have a paramount contribution to make as engines of future sustainable
development,” Kasukuwere emphasised adding: “Establishment of these woodlots
will reduce pressure on the country’s indigenous woodlands and give them time
to regenerate and recover.”
http:www.financialgazette.com by Nelson Chenga
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