Southern province Minister Edify Hamukale who was speaking during a press briefing in Choma yesterday said the area had been experiencing poor rainfall pattern in the past due to deforestation and in some instances as a result of charcoal burning.
Dr Hamukale said his vision was to re-install the rainfall pattern in the province through the planting of trees.
“The rainfall pattern hasn’t been stable in the province, this is due to deforestation and some areas have become semi-deserts,” Dr Hamukale said.
Dr Hamukale would soon be meeting provincial heads of departments, National Parks and Wildlife and Ministry of Education on how this programme would be implemented.
He said schools and each family that have a child at any particular school would be asked to plant one tree.
Each School would also be asked to have an orchard and should at least plant a minimum of 100 trees which would help to contribute to the hydrological cycle.
“If all schools do this, then we can have a situation where the rainfall pattern will stabilise. 100 trees in an orchard will help the government to restore the ecological balance in Southern province,” he said.
Meanwhile Dr Hamukale said his office would soon engage the Department of National Parks and Wildlife on how best to sensitise the community that live in the game management areas on dangers of poaching.
“We want to work with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife to begin the sensitisation to primary schools against poaching, because of the animals are now extinct” he said.
And Dr Hamukale assured of government’s commitment to electrify the rural areas under the rural electrification programme.
“Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money” …
PF might as well go to its chief sangoma, Katele Kalumba, for how to summon rain in the middle of October. I doubt this crackhead scheme about planting trees as PF are broke after stealing $9billion from the treasury.
They will make sure the plan fails, take to another province.
The simple FACT is that PF incompetence by cancelling the Lower Kafue Gorge in 2011 has made Zambia massively revert to charcoal for cooking. Zambians can no longer rely on Zesco for dependable electricity because of clueless clowns like F Bwalya appointed to the Board for political reward when they understand NOTHING about it.
Lungu and his PF are responsible for more deforestation than any previous government.
WONDERFUL IN ITIATIVE DOC. SENSITIZATION TO COMMUNITIES ON DANGERS OF POACHING AND CHARCOAL BURNING ARE BRILLIANT.
THERE IS MASSIVE CHARCOAL PRODUCTION ALL OVER THE COUNTRY – FORESTS THAT WERE THERE 5 MONTHS AGO ARE GONE.. STOP THE ILLEGAL CHOPPING DOWN OF TREES AND ILLEGAL CHARCOAL PRODUCTION FIRST. IF YOU DONT DO THIS IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW MANY TREES YOU PLANT – BECAUSE FOR EVERY 100 YOU PLANT 300 ARE CHOPPED DOWN. RATHER EMBARK ON A PROGRAMME THAT WILL PROMOTE CHARCOAL SELLERS LIVES BY INTRODUCING SUSTAINABLE METHODS OF CHARCOAL PRODUCTION SUCH AS COW DUNG MIXED WITH STRAW OR CROP REMAINS TO MAKE “CHARCOAL” FOR HOUSEHOLDS THAT LIVE IN RURAL AREAS.
What is incompetent pf going to do? Hold national prayers for rain kikiki
This story, just like the other one of creating 1 million jobs, are typical of PF scams to fool voters that something is being done about their suffering. The real test is where Lungu is spending national resources – hiring a private jet to have dance parties in New York and paying for a stadiumful of football supporters in Ndola to watch a game. That’s more like Lungu, and not what Hamukale is imagining.
NOW WE SEEM TO HAVE GENUINE MINDS WHOSE AIM IS TO PRESERVE OUR MOTHERLAND. WE SHALL SUPPORT THIS BRILLIANT INITIATIVE WHICH WILL BENEFIT UR COUNTRY IMMERNSELY.
Oh, no please! You cannot change the local rainfall pattern by planting trees. While tree planting is a good initiative, its objective here is misplaced and wishful thinking. The rainfall Southern Province or Zambia or even Africa receives is not dependent at on the local trees but rather it is the trees /forest are a result of the rainfall pattern. You can can have a forest with low rainfall … you can as many trees as possible but it will not result high local rainfall…. thats just how it is, its meteorology, it is a science. Does it rain in an Oasis in the desert? Please Doc, be careful on what you say especially, it may expose you
It is a proven fact that replanting of trees on a large scales shall change the rainfall pattern of a region. It worked in south Korea. It is scientific, not your local witch doctor’s theories lol.
Comment:Just let them pray to God the giver of rains and everything. some us on prayed on 18th Oct last year nd we receivd a fair rainfall but the southeners shunned the occation becoz ther small god HH told them so, I hope this tym around they will not do that if they do they wil eat HH ‘s cattle.
yes you are correct it will rain after the 18th of October. In fact meteorologists have predicted that Lusaka will be overcast from the 18th and that some rain should fall on the 24th. It will remain a little bit overcast with more rain predicted on the 5th of November. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know when it will rain you simply need to listen to weather forecasts. No one shunned the occasion we merely mentioned the fact that making the 18th of October a prayer day is hitting peoples pockets as they cannot work and earn money. Why not make every second Sunday in October national prayer day !!!!!!!!!!
That is why this usless PF GRZ should be concentrating on solar cooking and solar water heating products for the masses.
But because there are no bribes to be had in this endeavor , no one will bother.
You find all PF at the road development agency looking for corruption….
Deforestation of most parts of Southern Province is not due to charcoal burning but mostly to economical activities that were/used to part place in the seventies and eighties.From the early forties up to the late nineties Southern province was the maize belt of the country that lead to major cutting down of the trees/forest to pave way for agricultural activities.Very soon it will be central province to follow.Northern province has been a bit luck due to its proximity to the equator despite the chitemene system being in place for a long long time.Northern province has not experienced highly mechanised farming as compared to Southern and central provinces.
Obviously you do not live in the Southern Province – everywhere you drive there are hundreds of bags of charcoal on the side of the road. If you drive from Lusaka to Mumbwa there are 100’s of trucks carrying charcoal from the central provice to Lusaka. It is the same throughout Zambia so do not say that deforestation is not due to charcoal burning – charcoal burning is an economic activity for the poor .
Planting trees is a good idea but I’m not sure that the rainfall patterns will just change and God make a rainbow appear around the sun to confirm it’s the work of Vodigar – climate is a macro-level thing not local. The trees will need rain as well unless you are planning to water them???
hehehehehehehe after all these years today noway, why?
Better late than never.