Serengeti District officials have launched a special reforestation campaign in response to wanton tree-felling in the area because of tobacco farming.
A senior official in the Serengeti District Council Victor Rutonesha launches a tree-planting campaign at Kebanchabancha village last month.
The campaign, which kicked off recently, targets 16 villages where thousands of peasants are engaged in tobacco farming as the major weapon to rid them out of poverty.
The selected villages, without a reliable cash crop, started tobacco cultivation in 2007 with support from Alliance One Tobacco Tanzania Limited (AOTTL).
AOTTL is supporting the reforestation campaign which officials say is important for environmental conservation in the wildlife-rich district of Tanzania. A total of 200,000 tree seedlings provided by AOTTL are lined up for plant during the ongoing campaign.
AOTTL says it generates over one million tree seedlings as part of mitigation measures tailored to ensure that the introduction of tobacco farming does not cause environmental degradation in the area.
Ms Goody Pamba, the Serengeti District Council Executive Director (DED) officially launched the campaign on October 3 at Kebanchabancha village. “This is the first joint cooperation between Serengeti District Council and Alliance One that seeks to ensure that all trees being planted are performing well.
Launching of this campaign is taking place when there is a huge increase of tobacco farmers in Serengeti,” Pamba said at the launching of the campaign. She said that the development of tobacco sector in the district will depend on serious environmental conservation initiatives that would be put in place by key stakeholders.
Serengeti District will now introduce a special farmers’ register to ensure that tobacco production does not harm the environment. “There will be a register showing every tobacco farmer and his or her number of trees,” Pamba said.
She instructed government extension officers to supervise the register in collaboration with the village leaders. “Tree planting will now be a permanent agenda in all meetings and the villages must establish by-laws to control deforestation,” she emphasized. Although tobacco is now seen as gold by the majority of farmers in some villages in Serengeti district, officials have warned that they will not allow it to damage the environment.
Official figures show that 1,920 farmers earned 8.4 bn/- after selling 2,520 tonnes of tobacco to AOTTL during the 2012/2013 farming season. Farmers at Kebanchabancha village where the reforestation campaign was launched generated nearly 1bn/-. The Serengeti District Council has earned 420m/- as revenue from the cash crop instead of the estimated 200m/-.
“Serengeti is the only district that remains with virgin land in Mara region. We would not like to damage it because of tobacco,” a senior official from the District Council said. AOTTL officials based in Serengeti district headquarters of Mugumu say they will not support any farmer who doesn’t plant trees.
“We’re not going to work with any farmer who will not plant trees,” said Mr Jack Marwa, an official of AOTTL. Tobacco farmers have welcomed the reforestation initiative and pledged to cooperate with all stakeholders. “This is good and it will help to protect the natural trees.
Personally I have 2,800 trees and I am still planting more,” said 43 year-old Zacharia Magero, rated as one of the best tobacco farmers, according to AOTTL officials in the area.
Magoiwa Mwita, 45, another tobacco farmer, said that he considers trees as an additional cash crop apart from using them for curing tobacco.
“We’re now selling trees for timber apart from curing tobacco. I have bought 1,000 iron sheets after selling trees and tobacco and my plan is to buy a vehicle soon,” Magoiga said.
He also uses the income he generates from tobacco and trees to educate his children. He has so far planted over 6,000 trees with the help of AOTTL.
By MUGINI JACOB, Tanzania Daily News
