Opinion / Columnist
Trees are life let's plant them
14 Mar 2019 at 19:26hrs | Views
Noone can downplay the importance of trees to both humanity and wildlife, from timber, cattle pens, firewood to fruits and the medicinal roots used by the village 'sangoma'.
Trees are life let's look after them so they can serve us. In 'gone years' anyone caught wantonly cutting down trees was taken to task by the village elders, everyone was own guard.
Indeed people used firewood but they would collect and cut down dead trees for their cooking and brewing the occasional 'seven days' potent traditional beer. Little attention is now given to the on going felling of green trees that are in their prime, with some cheeky herbalists pulling out whole bushes.
Some hills are now bare and dangerous since heavy rains can trigger mudslides. Why has almost everyone chosen to play deaf and dump, let's loudly talk about planting trees and preserving them. That natural habitat for wildlife and birds is no more, the flora and fauna decimated by some among us.
If only one can plant two trees for every single one felled, our countryside would heal quickly. Tobacco farming is very profitable to both the exchequer and the farmer, however, our wonderful farmers must be encouraged to plant trees. Without trees good soils are washed away resulting in ugly gullies and silted water bodies.
Plant a tree today.
Thomas Murisa. Chinehasha.
Trees are life let's look after them so they can serve us. In 'gone years' anyone caught wantonly cutting down trees was taken to task by the village elders, everyone was own guard.
Indeed people used firewood but they would collect and cut down dead trees for their cooking and brewing the occasional 'seven days' potent traditional beer. Little attention is now given to the on going felling of green trees that are in their prime, with some cheeky herbalists pulling out whole bushes.
Some hills are now bare and dangerous since heavy rains can trigger mudslides. Why has almost everyone chosen to play deaf and dump, let's loudly talk about planting trees and preserving them. That natural habitat for wildlife and birds is no more, the flora and fauna decimated by some among us.
If only one can plant two trees for every single one felled, our countryside would heal quickly. Tobacco farming is very profitable to both the exchequer and the farmer, however, our wonderful farmers must be encouraged to plant trees. Without trees good soils are washed away resulting in ugly gullies and silted water bodies.
Plant a tree today.
Thomas Murisa. Chinehasha.
Source - Thomas Murisa
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