Story by Tamuka Charakupa
HURUNGWE – The Forestry Commission, a government agency responsible for forestry conservation, has embarked on a massive re-afforestation programme in Hurungwe as part of efforts to restore forests under threat from tobacco production.
Indigenous trees, like musasa, mopane, muhacha among others, are on the verge of extinction and the situation is a result of the twin impact of illegal charcoal production and tobacco curing processes.
Mr Willard Phiriz, one of the farmers from Chitindiva community – a dominant small scale tobacco production hub – confirmed the deadly practice in his village and is aware of the dangers it poses to the ecosystem.
“We survive on tobacco farming in this area, but this has come at a cost to our community. Indigenous trees such as musasa and mupani are mainly targeted, but we want to thank government through the Forestry Commission which is providing us with replacement trees while initiatives like bee-keeping are also guarding against veld fires and deforestation,” he said.
Tobacco is their main cash cow as crops like maize are not compatible with the area’s climatic conditions.
Not only are indigenous trees under threat, there is also massive environmental degradation taking place in the area. Brick molding business is also booming, with the bricks being used to construct tobacco barns.
No one is struggling to venture into tobacco production as local companies are flocking the area entering into contract farming agreements with the local farmers.
The contractors provide farmers with seed, fertilizers and technical support. Upon harvesting, they also guarantee a ready market for the product.
To minimise the impact of the situation, the local traditional leadership has since engaged the companies to also provide charcoal for curing.
“We have approached our local authorities to issue permits to farmers if they want to cut trees from their fields while on our side, we are imposing heavy penalties to those caught in the act. We also reached a milestone agreement with companies sponsoring contract farming to deliver charcoal so that we mitigate against deforestation”, said Mr Hands Chundu, Chitindiva village head.
He added that they have since criminalised rampant or un-sanctioned cutting down of trees with offenders fined an equivalent of a goat if found in breach.
On the other hand, government through the Forestry Commission has already began the tree planting exercise with affected communities being the first to benefit.
Hurungwe District Forestry Officer Mr Eric Madzimire revealed a target of over 1 million trees set to be planted this year.
“We were affected by the El Nino drought last year but going forward we intend to plant around 1.2 million trees,” he said.
Several organisation have joined the fight against deforestation with projects like beekeeping being introduced as a bio-conversion method.
Meanwhile, recent statistics indicate that tobacco curing accounts for at least 15 percent of the country’s forests deforestation translating to at least 60 000 hectares lost annually.
