adminElton Manguwo
THE Government has warned farmers against starting veld fires, as efforts to safeguard the natural bio-diversity, the environment, crops, property, livestock and more importantly, human lives gather momentum.
The call comes as cases of veld fires are reported to have risen by 47 percent this fire season from the 1 517 cases recorded during the same comparative period last season to 2 229 cases this time around. Veld fires destroyed over a million hectares last season.
On Monday 10 people were burnt to death, as they tried to put out a rampaging veld fire on their farm in Esigodini, Matabeleland South.
In a statement recently, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development highlighted that veld fires were causing tremendous losses in the livestock sub-sector through animal deaths and more importantly the destruction of pastures, which was leading to feed shortages.
Despite the growing calls by Government for farmers to treat farming as a business whose success is also anchored on the resources around them, veld fires have continued to cause huge losses for farmers through property destruction as well as crop and farming equipment destruction.
The Government has also upped efforts to curb the veld fire scourge by enacting legislation on fire management and control. Land users such as farmers are required to put in place fire prevention mechanisms around fields, homesteads, paddocks grazing areas, woodlots and plantations.
Furthermore, fires can destroy grass and biomass that is proving useful as mulching material for the Government’s climate-proofed Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme that is meant to improve food security and availability of raw materials for agro-processing.
They can also kill micro-organisms and partially sterilise the soil while severe fires can increase soil density, reduce porosity and permanently alter soil texture. Due to decreased water filtration rates and water storage capacity, damaged soils become prone to accelerated run-off and soil erosion.
The Agriculture and Rural Development Services (ARDAS) has since partnered with the Environment Management Authority (EMA) to conduct veld fire awareness campaigns to discourage farmers from starting unnecessary veld fires.
They are encouraging farmers to organise themselves and request EMA to train firefighting teams in the community and report veld fires, as soon as they notice them.
“The fire outbreaks that are being recorded are being caused by hunting activities, land clearing and illegal honey extractions,” said EMA environment education and publicity manager Mrs Amkela Sidange noted recently.
Online Reporter
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