TANZANIA TO PLANT FAST GROWING TREES FOR CHARCOAL

By Our Correspondent, Morogoro TANZANIA

A study on short duration trees to be used in making charcoal has been directed by the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Hamisi Kigwangalla, upon the Tanzania Forestry Research Institute (TAFORI).

Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Hamisi Kigwangalla

Speaking during the launch of the TAFORI board of directors here, the minister said that excessive use of charcoal has highly affected the country’s indigenous forests and nature.

This comes as a shift from the sustained call by national leaders for the public to shift from charcoal—known for fuelling deforestation—to clean sources of energy such as gas.

The minister said that most forests have been decimated by, among others, the high demand for charcoal, and this situation puts some tree species on the verge of extinction.

“Human activities and charcoal demand have left the land empty…People are fond of cutting down natural forests without replanting them. It is now your obligation, you the researchers now need to come up with alternative ways to serve the population by coming up with rapidly growing trees for charcoal burning,” he said

He said that Tanzania has been blessed with plenty of resources including forests that cover 48.1 million hectares, equivalent to 55 percent of the county’s land surface.

A forest reserves inventory, the National Forestry Resources Monitoring and Assessment (Naforma), indicates that deforestation in Tanzania is high whereas 372,000 to 582,000 hectares of forests is lost annually on average.

The primary drivers of forest loss include cropland expansion, charcoal making, firewood harvesting, clearing for pasture and urban expansion, it asserts.

Kingwagalla urged the public to build the culture of using research findings for sustainable utilization of forest resources.

“Natural and indigenous forests are the major sources of quality timber, as 98 percent of hard wood come from the forests. So we need to ensure that they are well protected to benefit present and future generations,” he said.

He further directed the board to continue improving laboratories to ensure that more researches are conducted and produce solutions to existing problems.

Earlier, Tafori board chairman Dr Felician Kilahama said that the institution has recorded a number of successes in the past ten years, and intends to continue investing efforts to ensure that more solution-based researches are conducted to save the country’s forests.

He urged the minister to work on Tafori’s outstanding request of being assigned a director general as it has been operating on a virtual caretaker basis since 2012.

“We are facing staff shortage. Our call is for the government to hire more experts and researchers in the area of forest and bee development,” he specified.

Indigenous forests are absolutely essential in treating various human ailments, through the use of their barks, roots and leaves. This cushions treatment costs for the poor particularly those in the rural areas, he added. - The Guardian