Why We’re Into Charcoal Business – Youths
Idon, a rural community in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State, North West Nigeria, endowed with forest resources, has become a hub for the production and sales of charcoal in the State regardless of the environmental impact
Hundreds of sack bags of charcoal are produced daily from within and neighbouring communities and loaded into trucks in Idon for urban centres.
Seen as a lucrative business and means of livelihood, youths go to the hinterlands on motorcycles to purchase from villagers who are mostly producers and bring them down to Idon where they sell to vendors.
Speaking with Climate reporters on a field trip, One of the vendors and a graduate in agriculture, Frank Bala said most youths in the area have turned to the lucrative business due to its high urban demand.
” Although we know the consequences of the act on the environment, we don’t have alternative”, he said.
At the residence of the village head, the National President of Idon Development Union, Monday Linus told journalists that the charcoal activities have negatively affected the environment where logs are no longer found, a situation which the Union was trying to curtail or discourage .
“We discourage our youths from felling trees and take to farming to safeguard the future . The Youths have seen it as a lucrative business, but we consider the consequences these activities would have on our future”, he warned.
During the visit, Journalists were shown various processes of cutting trees to the production of Charcoal.
One of the producers demonstrating to journalists the process of production
Meanwhile, the Deputy Director of Forestry in the State Ministry of Environment, Jaddi Michael who was in the team, reaffirmed State government strong recognition of climate change hence its avowed commitment to preventing human activities against environment.
He disclosed that the annual tree planting campaign by the government has however been disrupted by the prevailing insecurity having planted 4,000,000 between 2016 and 2020.
Tree planting, he emphasized, was being carried out in only areas considered secured, while the ban on tree felling remains in force in the State.
Jaddi Michael, who was speaking at one of the guard posts manned by Forest Rangers, spoke of the security threats on his men from firewood merchants who carried out their nefarious activities at Nights.
Contributing, One of the Forest Rangers spoke of the threats from the firewood merchants and loggers stressing the need to provide them with arms to withstand any possible danger.
According to reports, Kaduna lost over 5, 400 hectares of natural forest in 2023.
The trip to Idon was part of a three- day workshop “Women Empowerment and Climate Resilience Initiative” with the theme: Strengthening Journalism and Reporting on Climate- related Issues, which ended in Kaduna on Thursday.
The Women Empowerment and Climate Resilience Initiative(WECRI) is implemented by Bridge That Gap Initiative (BTG) as part of the Partnership for Agile Governance and Climate Engagement (PACE) Programme, funded by UK International Development.
It focuses on building sustainable communities and enhancing climate resilience among vulnerable populations in Kaduna State.
The project recognizes that women are disproportionately affected by climate shocks but are underrepresented in governance.
By focusing on gender inclusion, WECRI poised to strengthen women’s groups, improve their policy advocacy skills, and provide them with resources like energy-efficient cookstoves to reduce reliance on fuelwood.
