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Kudzai Makanyanga

Walking long distances and high deforestation rates are now a thing of the past for Msheleni Villagers in Umzigwane district of Zimbabwe.

Following the rolling out of a wood saving stoves project (qed’udubo) by the Forestry Commission as it tries to cope with high deforestation rates in the area.

In an interview with Litha Maphosa Mabhena (beneficiary of the wood saving project ), a villager said the introduction of the wood saving stoves had played a pivotal role in alleviating firewood challenges in the community, and paid gratitude to Commission for its timely intervention.

“We would like to thank the Forestry Commission for educating us on the making qed”udubo which has saved us from walking long distance everyday in search of firewood which is a scarce commodity in this area and it has also played a pivotal role in reducing deforestation,”said Mabhena .

“We are glad as a community for the programme as it has reduced the rate of deforestation as compared to previous years before the stoves were introduced because now we use two to three sticks of firewood to prepare thye thre meals of the day while in the past we used a bulk of fire wood,” added Mabhena.

Forestry Commission Officer for Matabelaland South Sithembinkosi Moyo said the idea of wood saving stoves was to reduce the rate of deforestation in thye region which had reached alarming rates.

“After we noticed the alarming rate at which deforestation was happening in Umzingwane district we saw it fit to come up with mitigation factors to reduce it hence we embarked on an awareness campaign on the effects of deforestation.

the stoves are part of the mitigation measures in trying to curb the rate of deforestation as they have a high combustion rate which reduces rates of global warming so these stoves go a long way in reducing long term environmental effects.

The idea was borrowed from Kenya in an exchange program and we saw it fit to educate our locals in preserving the trees and the surrounding environment.

More than 700 households have benefited from the programm since its inception last in September.

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