Opinion / Columnist
Do not strip our forests
11 Nov 2018 at 09:17hrs | Views
Commercialization of wild fruits has left creatures of the wild with no food. Attendant to this 'tragedy' is the wanton cutting down of trees that is destroying the natural habitat of animals and birds.
The rain season comes with the maturity and ripening of loquats (mazhanje), a delicacy to both humans and primates. Very soon bakkies full of this fruit will be very visible on our roads coming from the countryside into towns and cities where the loquats sell like hot cakes.
How will the baboons and monkeys survive? Some of the loquat trees are cut down for easy reach of the fruit with total disregard for the resultant environmental degradation. In some cases such actions have resulted in human and animal conflict with the later going for goats and chickens.
Indeed we need 'mazhanje' but why harvest everything including those not yet mature? Chakata and tsubvu have not been spared as they are also being carted to towns in big tonnage.
The rural forests are being stripped bare of both fruit and tree, what will the countryside picturesque be like in the near future? Our progeny may never grow to see and taste loquats after we have ruined them.
Why not just collect enough for the family? Business is noble, avocados, oranges, lemons, bananas etc can make a good sale. Do not destroy our forests and deny wild animals home and food.
Tondo Murisa. Chinehasha.
The rain season comes with the maturity and ripening of loquats (mazhanje), a delicacy to both humans and primates. Very soon bakkies full of this fruit will be very visible on our roads coming from the countryside into towns and cities where the loquats sell like hot cakes.
How will the baboons and monkeys survive? Some of the loquat trees are cut down for easy reach of the fruit with total disregard for the resultant environmental degradation. In some cases such actions have resulted in human and animal conflict with the later going for goats and chickens.
The rural forests are being stripped bare of both fruit and tree, what will the countryside picturesque be like in the near future? Our progeny may never grow to see and taste loquats after we have ruined them.
Why not just collect enough for the family? Business is noble, avocados, oranges, lemons, bananas etc can make a good sale. Do not destroy our forests and deny wild animals home and food.
Tondo Murisa. Chinehasha.
Source - Tondo Murisa.
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