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Pemba charcoal ’exports’ to be banned soon
2006-07-15 10:08:36
By Issa Yussuf, Zanzibar
The Zanzibar government plans to ban the movement of charcoal from Pemba to Unguja.
The decision was arrived at, upon realisation that the clove trees are being harvested for charcoal.
Authorities said increased charcoal burning in Pemba threatens the growth of the clove industry in Zanzibar, something which if left to continue, would most likely paralyse the cultivation of the Isle’s main cash crop.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Environment Khatib Suleiman Bakari told the House of Representatives yesterday that it would soon become illegal to transport charcoal from Pemba Island to Unguja.
”We are aware of the decline of clove plantations in Zanzibar. The decrease is a result of charcoal business, wanton felling of the trees for firewood, house construction and non-replacement of ageing or felled trees,” Bakari said.
The deputy minister’s statement was in reply to a question by Salmin Awadhi Salmin (CCM, Magomeni) who had wanted to know what the government was doing to control charcoal burning, which he said had contributed to a sharp decline in clove production in Pemba.
Bakari said that efforts to revive the clove industry would include environmental conservation awareness campaigns and planting of more clove trees.
”Our plan will include annual distribution of 300,000 seedlings of clove trees to farmers for free,” he said.
Clove exports were the main foreign exchange earner for Zanzibar until the late 1980s when they began to plummet, forcing the government to find substitute foreign exchange earners.
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