Gold Panners Destroy Arable Land in Mazoe Valley

Source: Financial Gazette (Harare)

Date: 6 March 2008

Author: Shame Makoshori

GOLD panning activities resulted in the destruction of 2 000 hactares of arable land in the Mazoe Valley in 2006 and many more thousands of hectares were believed to have been destroyed in other areas during that period, a senior government official said this week.

Environmental Management Agency (EMA) director-general, Mutsa Chasi, said with no stringent controls on gold panning, the country's economy is losing most of the productive land.

She told a conference in Harare on Monday that the loss of productive farmland has far reaching implications on the success of the economic recovery programmes the government is battling to implement.

Apart from the destruction of land, most of the illegally extracted gold is sold through the unofficial market, draining substantial amounts in potential foreign currency earnings from the fiscus every year.

"In 2006 they (gold panners) destroyed 2 000 hectares of arable land in the Mazoe Valley," Chasi told scientists, who attended a workshop exploring ways of mitigating environmental degradation and boosting crop yields in Zimbabwe.

"This is just one valley, what about in 30 to 35 other districts where they are in operation?

"They go into the ground and dig deep pits, use cyanide and other chemicals.

"All those chemicals will be washed down into our rivers and drainage systems. The land where the panning is taking place is no longer good for agriculture," she added.

In a country where about 80 percent of the population is classified as poor, Chasi said the only way to avoid land degradation and massive cutting down of trees was to implement projects that would lead to poverty reduction.

Hungry people, she said, were tempted to exploit the environment for survival.

Scientists estimate that more than 5 000 hactares were being destroyed every year in regions where gold and diamond panning his taking place.

Chasi said EMA had fought losing battles against the "vicious" gold panners because of the escalating economic crisis in the country.

"We have (launched) a blitz with the assistance of the police," she said.

"We have tried these enforcements for a very long time but the police can only assist us to a certain extent," Chasi added.

Meanwhile, the EMA director general indicated that the country was contributing to the depletion of the ozone layer through emission of carbon gases.

She said the energy sector, contributing 80 percent of the emissions, was the single major culprit.

The ozone layer protects the earth from excessive heat from the sun.

As a result of the depletion of this layer, Zimbabwe has experienced six very warm years since 1986, and the trend could worsen if the emissions continued uncontrolled.

EMA estimates that temperatures have increased by between 0,5 and two degrees Celsius since 1986.