Online Reporter
Nelson Gahadza
Midlands Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Owen Ncube has commended local mining firm Chenxi-Chengetai Investments for planting over 20 000 trees in Midlands Province, including 11 200 within the Boterekwa escarpment.
Speaking during the province’s tree-planting commemorations on Saturday, Minister Ncube said the development marked a renewed national commitment to protect forests and natural resources.
“Each sector of society has a pivotal role to play in ensuring that the trees we plant today are natural and sustainable,” he said.
He urged communities to plant fruit trees, saying they not only restore the environment but also create opportunities for future harvests that can generate income and improve livelihoods.
Chenxi-Chengetai Investments says it plans to plant one million trees as part of its long-term reforestation programme at its mine-impacted landscapes within the Boterekwa escarpment in Shurugwi/Zvishavane, Midlands Province.
Chief executive Mr Simon Karimanzira, speaking during the same event, said the company has so far planted over 20,000 trees, with 11,200 planted within the Boterekwa escarpment.
“Our tree survival rate stands at an impressive 95 percent supported by improved nursery practices and sustainable irrigation systems which we implemented during the dry season,” he said.
“Our rehabilitation footprint shows real transformation of which out of approximately 70 hectares of disturbed land through our extractive mining activities, 33 hectares have so far already been restored representing a 46 percent rehabilitation progress which is ongoing.”
Mr Karimanzira highlighted that as part of the National Tree Planting Day activities, Chenxi-Chengetai Investments is targeting planting an additional 2,000 indigenous trees.
He also revealed that the company was enhancing its technical capacity to sustain long-term environmental restoration initiatives.
“Environmental sustainability is not an afterthought but central to the organisation’s operations,” he said.
“We follow ESG principles focusing on sustainable land rehabilitation, biodiversity restoration and long-term ecosystem recovery.”
He noted that as a player in the extractive sector, the company fully understood the potential environmental impact of mining.
He added that development should never come at the cost of environmental destruction; instead, development and conservation should go hand in hand.
Tinaye Agere