Story by ZBC Reporter
SUGAR plum or mazhanje as they are called in Shona are going to be in short supply this season as over 850 000 hectares of land was ravaged by veld fires since July this year compared to 700 000 hectares during the same period last year.
The sweet brown fruit which is a favourite in the country becomes a regular site this time of the year. Truckloads of mazhanje are seen heading to the town folks who cannot afford the time to go and pick the fruits for themselves but still want a taste of heaven, gifted to us by mother nature.
Over the years, mazhanje have become quite the lucrative business for villagers, a stable income, some pickers have managed to bank on nature to earn them a living, pay school fees for children and assist with a bit of income to run homes, at no cost.
“I have been picking this fruit for years, but this year we are not sure that we going to make money because the trees were destroyed by the fire. People are burning the bushes, it’s not good,” lamented one villager.
“We need to safeguard our trees as you are aware that for most of us here in this area, mazhanje have been a staple income for years. So if we don’t protect these trees we end up suffering,” said another.
The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) revealed this Monday that they recorded more than 4 000 fire incidents since the first of July.
With such devastating effects on the country’s biodiversity, EMA and traditional leaders have adopted an inclusive approach to address the situation.
“We have got a number of interventions, we are doing a lot of awareness raising just to continuously sensitise communities. They can prevent the weld fires and this goes hand in hand with the law enforcement that is done across the law enforcement divide, traditionally, at local levels, they can enforce the law.
“To date, we have opened 21 dockets for those that violated the environmental laws in as far as weld fire prevention is concerned,” EMA’s Environmental Education and Publicity Manager Mrs Amkela Sidange said.
“In my area, we are very strict on those who start fire because we need to protect our land from wild fires. So we have come up with heavy fines on those caught starting fires. Also we have some people who are in the habit of destroying fruit trees which are very important to our livelihoods so we are also monitoring those people,” Chief Nyamukoho said.
Government has since announced fire restrictions to prevent uncontrolled infernos and mitigate the risk of devastating blazes.
