Nyaradzo Bakari, Chronicle Reporter
THE Forestry Commission has picked Chikurubi Maximum Prison in Harare as the venue for the commemoration of this year’s National Tree Planting Day to be held on Saturday.

The day is set aside to motivate the nation to plant and conserve trees, enlighten the nation on the importance of forests and woodland resources, enhance biodiversity and household food security.

This year’s theme is “Fruit Trees for Food Security and Nutrition.”

Forestry Commission operations manager Mr Stephen Zingwena said the commission chose Chikurubi so that inmates benefit from firewood from the trees to be planted there.

He said President Mnangagwa is expected to grace the event, where 320 trees will be planted.

“We identified Chikurubi as the place to launch this year’s tree planting season. Their current method of cooking food for inmates is firewood so these trees will assist in meeting their needs. This tree species is a firewood species so we want to establish a woodlot for the prison so that in the future they may harvest the firewood from the trees in that woodlot,” he said.

“This is where we want His Excellency to officiate this tree planting season but there are still issues about procedures for inviting him that are being handled at ministry level.”

Mr Zingwena said the tree of the year has also been identified.

“This season’s tree is called Mimusops zeyheri, umbumbulu in Ndebele and muchechete in Shona. This is an indigenous fruit tree. As usual we select an indigenous tree as a tree of the year, give information about our own trees in Zimbabwe and provide specific information about the selected tree. The information will help our community to know where it can be planted or found naturally growing, its uses and how people can grow the tree if they want to grow it themselves,” the operations manager said.

He said the tree naturally grows in Masvingo.

“It is largely grown in marginal areas, areas that receive about 400mm of rainfall per year, with temperatures of between 12 to 25 degrees Celsius on average. You would find that it can be grown in areas around regions 2, 3 and 4. These are mostly rocky areas.”

The first Saturday of December each year is National Tree Planting Day in the country. The day was set aside in 1980 to launch the tree planting season.

@NyarieBakie

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