Blessing Nduku
ChengXi Chengetai is taking a bold step toward environmental restoration, announcing an ambitious plan to plant one million trees as part of its rapidly expanding mine rehabilitation program.
Once defined by dusty pits and disrupted landscapes, the company’s project sites are
now transforming into green corridors that aim to revive biodiversity, stabilize soil, and
restore community trust.
The initiative comes at a critical time for Zimbabwe, which is grappling with rapid climate
change, severe deforestation and shrinking water resources.
These pressures have heightened the need for large scale reforestation and responsible land reclamation.
Speaking at the provincial National Tree Planting Day commemorations held last
week at the Boterekwa Escarpment, company general manager Simon Karimanzira
revealed that more than 20,000 trees had already been planted this year.
Of these, 11,200 were planted within the escarpment, where extensive mine-site
rehabilitation is actively underway.
The company reports an impressive 95% survival rate for its trees, a result attributed
to improved nursery management and targeted irrigation during the dry season.
Karimanzira also confirmed that 33 hectares of the 70 hectares disturbed by mining
had been fully restored marking a 46% reclamation ChengXi Chengetai currently produces 40,000 seedlings annually from its nursery, with plans to increase production to 100,000 next year achievement.
The company is implementing a structured three-phase rehabilitation model: stabilising soil with vetiver and Rhodes grass, reintroducing indigenous tree species native to the Shurugwi ecological zone, and restoring biodiversity through shrubs, fruit trees and mixed
vegetation.
ChengXi Chengetai currently produces 40,000 seedlings annually from its nursery, with
plans to increase production to 100,000 next year to bolster both mine rehabilitation and
community tree-planting programmes.
“By the time we cease operations, we aim to have planted one million indigenous
trees,” Karimanzira said.
He also highlighted partnerships with Hunan City University in China and local
universities to enhance reclamation research and environmental monitoring.
Environmental experts note that such interventions have become indispensable as
climate impacts intensify.
Reforestation in mined-out areas absorbs carbon dioxide, curbs erosion, improves water
retention, restores habitats and moderates local temperatures, benefits that are increasingly crucial amid worsening droughts, heatwaves and storms.
In addition, rehabilitated landscapes can support fruit production, medicinal plants, grazing and wildlife recovery.
Midlands Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Owen Ncube, who planted the Tree
of the Year, the Sausage Tree (Mumvee) during the event, stressed that Zimbabwe must
urgently restore its forests in the face of alarming national and continental deforestation
rates.
The country is losing an estimated 262,000 hectares of forest annually, contributing to
Africa’s overall loss of four million hectares each year.
“In this climate change era, we cannot afford to treat tree planting as ceremonial. It is a
national survival strategy,” Ncube said.
He called on communities, schools and traditional leaders to embrace tree planting as
both an adaptation measure and a livelihood opportunity, especially through the cultivation of fruit trees to support food security and income generation.
He further urged the planting of the 2025 Tree of the Year, the Mumvee, whose sustainability is increasingly under threat from over-harvesting.
Ncube added that the government remains committed to promoting sustainable forest management, supporting value addition in non-timber forest products and enforcing laws
against illegal logging.
