Dear editor,
THERE have been complaints all over the planet to curb the deliberate acts leading to climate change, but I think they haven’t been loud enough.
Why am I saying so? There is a silent giant killer slowly rising, which is called ‘tomato growing’.
Very few of us Zambians know that tomato growing is a threat to this and the coming generation.
Tomato growing involves the use of medium-sized logs of timber as supporters because the plant is a creeper.
According to my research, logs of about 5-8cm in radius are used.
The logs are placed about less than five metres apart.
Average fields have lines of about 105 metres and are not more than one metre from each other running parallel.
This entails that more than 20 logs must be erected per line.
Now this is the source of my concern.
A normal tomato field must have about 60 lines and these logs have to be changed every 15-20 months when they become old and are eaten up by termites.
In addition tomato fields exist concurrently and one field can take more than a thousand logs.
This so-called business targets the young trees, and how many logs are used and what is the effect of the massive clearance of the land on climate change?
I tried to consult some farmers in Lusaka West but out of ignorance, they defended the act.
The Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) and other relevant authorities are calling for an end to illegal sale and extraction of timber, especially the mukula tree, and timber for charcoal burning.
I would like to implore these institutions to rise to the occasion and enforce the law and regulate the cutting down of small trees for use in tomato growing.
MAINGA MUNSANJE,
Lusaka.