THE SHEAR NUT TREE: UNCOVERING THE SECRETS OF A FORGOTTEN FOREST GIANT

The  processed shear nut oil displayed by a local CBO that processes shearnut oil at an exhibition event at Yumbe Boma grounds last year. PHOTO BY ROBERT ELEMA 

BY ROBERT ELEMA

YUMBE

Aringa North Constituency in Yumbe district has been known to be the shear nut belt in the district but currently, this ancient tree is facing a extinction due to over harvesting and deforestation for charcoal production in the area.

According to the local community, the Shear nut tree (Pentadesma butyracea) has been a vital source of food, medicine and income for the local communities for centuries in the area.

In an interview with Radio Pacis on Wednesday, Ms Mariam Chandiru, a resident of Midigo town council says, the areas in Midigo in the past were covered with shear nut trees but the trees are now scattered because of the invasion of the area by the charcoal dealers who cut the shear nut trees for charcoal.

‘’We depended on the shear nut oil which is better than the oil that’s being sold in the market but because the trees are being destroyed, it's rare to get the oils this time. By the time the trees were plenty, we would go around the homestead to collect the shear nut seeds to make oil out of it and the fruits can also be eaten but this time, we trek for long distances and sometimes we go up to the Uganda-South Sudan border to look for the shear nut seeds which is very risky due to the security concerns at the border,’’ she said.

‘’We didn’t know that shear nut tree can be planted but since it can be planted, we want the environment department to sensitize us on how the seedlings can be raised and planted so that we bring back the shear nut trees and if we don’t benefit from it in the near future, it will be our children to benefit from it,’’ she added.

She revealed that, though the President stopped the transportation of charcoal for commercial purposes, there are still big trucks that enter Yumbe and leave the place with charcoal at night and for them as the local community, it's hard to stop such people but the district authority is quiet about it.

Mr Noah Acikule, an elder from Kei sub county said, poverty is a source of rebellion and it has made people destroy the environment as if they are going away.
‘’We are not going away, we shall remain here, so we need the trees, particularly the shear nut trees. If the people were to know the importance of the shear nut tree, they wouldn’t even touch it but a normal person sits down and says, this big shear nut tree is mine, I am going to make five bags of charcoal out of it but this money is used to abuse drugs such as Marungi, Alcohol, Marijuana and within few days, the money gets finished and go for another one,’’ he said.

‘’People who are found cutting down the shear nut trees shouldn’t be spared and the law should take its course so that they are able to know that the shear nut tree and its products like the oil, fruits are very important because the oil is medicinal, organic and the forest department should take deliberate move to reward those who have saved the shear nut trees in their gardens so as to encourage others to the same,’’ he added.

He said, the only way forward for them to rescue the shear nut tree is to encourage conservation of the environment and replanting of the shear nut tree and good enough the shear nut conservation company in Midigo town council has raised over 50,000 shear nut seedlings so, people should pick interest and plant the seedlings so that they become co-creators.   

Mr. Mustafa Gerima the shear nut activist said, the rate at which the shear nut tree is destroyed in Yumbe is very high and that if no urgent steps are taken, they might lose the precious tree in the area.

Mr Gerima attributed the rampant destruction of the shear nut tree to the commercial charcoal trade which is eating up the tree species in the area. ‘’A Research that was done some time back showed that shear nut trees were at 27 per cent but as we talk now, it's less than 13 per cent. In West Nile region, Madi Okollo district used to be the home of shear nut trees but the area was cleared and then people have moved to Yumbe that’s why all our eyes are in Yumbe and we are in a campaign of saving the shear nut trees,’’ he said.

‘’In the society we are now in, there’s what we call double standard including a high level of impunity. The president issued an executive order banning commercial charcoal business and this order is supposed to be implemented with immediate effect with all classes of people both technical and political but on the ground, we are seeing nothing,’’ he added. He calls upon the community through the religious, cultural leaders and other institutions to become guardians of the shear nut trees and conserve the environment.

Mr Imran Ijotre an environmental scientist said, weather patterns change when human beings decide to go wrong on the environment. He said, they initially had the endangered tree species like the Afzelia Africana, Mahogany, shear nut trees that used to modify the climate and the absence of such trees have impacted negatively on the local climate.

‘’The real variability in the weather pattern has changed and we no longer know when to plant. This goes back to the way we adulterate the environment by cutting down the trees indiscriminately for our quick gains and this has contributed to low crop yields,’’ he said. He said, there is a need to restore the environment by identifying and planting the indigenous trees like the shear nut which will help to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Mr Khemis Ambaga the district Forest Officer said, since the shear nut tree produces quality charcoal the tree has been heavily harvested. He said, the Forest department has taken steps to earmark some of the areas with the shear nut trees in the district to protect them from being harvested and that they have also received a Community Based Organization (CBO) to save the tree and they reward people who protect the shear nut trees including raising of shear nut seedlings.

Ban on charcoal

Mr Ambaga said they received the executive order on the ban of charcoal in May last year but its implementation hasn’t been perfect. ‘’The executive order came without clear guidelines from the technical team and it has made the implementation not so effective but as a district, we had taken some steps to implement the directive. It’s not true that we are conniving with the charcoal dealers but the issue is, the community doesn't give us information in time,’’ he said.

‘’As Forestry department, we don’t have enough resources to implement the executive order, especially the transport system to reach out to the community. We only have a motorcycle in the department which we can’t use to move at night hours to implement the executive order because it's really becoming a black market and moving at night, there are a lot of risks,’’ he added.

He said, there are people who go on ground to cut trees for charcoal production and the community leave other processes like cutting the trees, piling the logs and firing to go unreported but they only give them information about those who go on ground to buy the charcoal so, they don’t inform them including the LC’s adding that the local community also connive with such people.