Adjumani leaders auction 500 bags of confiscated charcoal

Adjumani, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Adjumani district local government on Friday auctioned over 500 bags of charcoal confiscated from illegal charcoal dealers.

Each bag of charcoal was sold at 15,000 shillings. Francis Ojja, the Adjumani District Forest Officer said illegal charcoal burning is on the rise in the sub-counties of Ofua, Itirikwa and Pakele.

He said hundreds of people who acquired permission to open agricultural land have instead resorted to massive extraction of trees for commercial charcoal burning with no plans of restorations for the lost tree covers.

Ojja adds that since the start of the year, Adjumani district forestry services have so far impounded 1,500 bags of charcoal from illegal dealers.

Jesus Iranya, the LCIII chairperson of Itirikwa sub-county says operations against illegal charcoal dealers have been a challenge to the district authorities because some of the affected areas are in Uganda Wildlife Protected zones.

He said some residents in the area have sold plots of their ancestral land to powerful business persons and government officials who have since embarked on illegal commercial charcoal burning.

Josephine Atoo, the Adjumani District Secretary for Production Marketing and Investment said the district council resolved to regulate illegal charcoal burning by restricting the issuance of a license to few charcoal dealers.

Atoo disclosed that this year alone, over 300 people had applied for commercial charcoal burning licenses but the district forestry services only considered 6 to operate.

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