MANGWE Rural District Council in Matabeleland South Province has issued drastic measures to mopane worms (amacimbi/ madora) harvesters which will see outsiders no longer allowed to harvest the popular delicacy in areas under its jurisdiction.
Individuals who intend to harvest amacimbi should have a
valid permit from the council while traditional leaders and council employees
would be monitoring them while ensuring that there would be no pollution of
water bodies and destruction of vegetation during harvesting of the popular
delicacy.
These measures by the council aimed at commercialising the
harvesting of mopane worms in the area, came after the approval of its draft
by-laws by the Ministry Local Government and Public Works in terms of Section
90 of the Rural District Councils Act (Chapter 29:13).
According to the new laws the harvesting and processing of
mopane worms shall be a preserve of the locals and no person shall harvest and
remove mopane worms from the council area unless one has been granted
permission to do so and complies with the terms and conditions of such
permission.
Mangwe Rural District Council emphasized that it shall be
an offence for any local to accommodate an amacimbi non-permit holder from
outside the district and all mopane worms harvested or purchased shall be
forfeited to the local authority.
“The harvesting, degutting, cooking, salting and packaging
of amacimbi shall only be a benefit for the locals.
“Any person or organisation interested in buying mopane
worms from the Council area shall be allowed to do so provided they have a
permit issued in terms of the by-law by the said Council at a fee prescribed by
the Council on its annual budget.
“Any person or organisation or an association of persons
wishing to buy amacimbi and take the resource out of the district, shall apply
to Council for permission to do so. Any person or association shall obtain a
seasonal harvesting/ buying permit at a fee prescribed in the council budget.
“On receipt of an application in terms of subsection (3),
the Council may (a) grant written permission to the applicant to harvest/ buy
amacimbi from a specific area of choice, subject to these by-laws and to such
terms and conditions as the Council may specify in the permission (b) refuse to
renew the permit if during the tenure of the previous permit the permit holder
breached any conditions of the permit,” the by-laws reads in part.
Permission granted in terms shall remain in force for only
one harvesting season which is December or April of every year.
“No permit shall be given to cover two seasons. A permit
shall be issued only when the mopane worm is available for buying in that
particular season. A permit shall be given to a buyer after having paid a
prescribed fee stated in the Council’s annual budget”.
In addition the council emphasized that there shall be a
trading centre for mopane worms when the resource has been fully processed, for
amacimbi buyers to bid “Only the mopane worms that have matured shall be
harvested. The harvesting of amacimbi shall be done in a sustainable manner,
without the destruction of the trees. It shall be an offence for the harvesters
to fell down trees so as to collect amacimbi from high trees.
“Offenders shall be fined by Council as per the schedule of
fines in the annual budget. Any person who contravenes any provision of these
by-laws shall be guilty of an offence and be liable to a fine as prescribed in
the council current budget,” further reads the by-laws.
The by-laws came at a time when the district has always
been inundated by people from various parts of the country who have been
harvesting the worms while employing poor methods of harvesting.
Mopane worms are part of the common Zimbabwean diet and a
highly sought-after product mainly in Europe.
In 2020 ZimTrade, conducted an assessment of mopane worms’
export potential and advised that the product was one of the low-hanging fruits
Zimbabwe could easily exploit without much investment. B Metro
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