New Vision (Kampala)
Frank Mugabi
18 November 2008
Kampala — THE cutting of trees for tobacco-curing, and charcoal-burning have contributed to the depletion of trees in West Nile, the Arua district forest officer, Edison Adiribo, has said.
He said tobacco, the region's major cash crop, requires large quantities of wood fuel to cure, and has forced farmers to indiscriminately cut down trees.
Adiribo was speaking at the launch of an agro-forestry project in Arua town on Saturday.
The project is a partnership between the Nile Trans-boundary Environmental Action Project under the Nile Basin Initiative and Arua Rural Community Development.
It promotes afforestation and cultivation of red bird chili as an alternative income source for tobacco farmers in Arua and Maracha/Terego districts.
The district finance secretary, Sam Nyakua, urged communities to embrace the project, saying a well protected environment plays a big role in fighting poverty.
"We have been destroying our environment out of ignorance but now it is time to change. If we don't do this, we foresee grave effects which may be difficult and costly to mitigate," Nyakua said.
The ARCOD programme coordinator, Manasseh Acidri, said they were providing market for the chili. He said the crop is perennial and environmentally friendly.
Acidri also said they had trained 765 farmers in post harvest handling and construction of low cost solar driers.
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