By Ernest Mfunya
Mangochi, Mana: Mangochi District Forestry Officer, Leonard Kamangadazi has disclosed that the district recorded 76 percent tree survival rate in the 2020/2021 tree planting season.
He attributed the success to a combined effort with partners that include village natural resources management committees (VNRMCs).
Kamangadazi disclosed over the week end in an interview with Malawi News Agency (Mana) on the district season performance on tree survival as the 2021/2022 tree planting season is drawing closer.
He said Mangochi observed the tree planting season from December 2020 to April 2021 and the district planted 2.5 million seedlings of different trees species such as mbawa, bluegum, acacia, nthethe and nsangu in 12 constituencies across the district.
“Officially the tree planting season starts on December 15 and ends on April 15, every year and our target was to raise 2.5 million seedlings during the last tree planting season of which we planted all the seedlings that we targeted and managed to raise,” Kamangadazi said.
He said the district achieved this due to the coordination that the forestry office had with other partners as VNRMCs, organisations such as Press Trust and Feed the Future that made donations to purchase the tree seedlings.
Kamangadazi added that the successes came following initiation of the constituency tree planting which was spearheaded by President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera in December 2020.
“Following the launch of the constituency tree planting, we went into constituencies with Members of Parliament to plant the trees and VNRMCs that were tasked to look after the trees,” he said, adding that it was impressive that the committees made a huge contribution towards the survival rate.
Kamangadazi said the tree planting season was relevant to Mangochi because the district is prone to various forms of disasters such as floods.
However, he expressed concern over increased deforestation, saying it was unfortunate that communities in the district continue to cut down trees uncessarily which would most likely bring hazardous effects on humans and the environment.
“Our biggest challenge is careless cutting down of trees in protected forest reserves such as Namizimu, Phirilongwe and Nkopola because there is a misconception that the forest reserves belong to the government,” he lamented.
Kamangadazi also disclosed that the forestry office in Mangochi recently signed two co-management agreements with some communities within Phirilongwe and Namizimu forests to address the deforestation.
He also said his office is planning to plant 1.5 million trees in the 2021/2022 tree planting season and currently the office was engaging partners to assist with resources to ensure that the season becomes a success with higher trees survival rate.
“We’re making sure that Mangochi should plant and manage a lot of trees and I’m glad that we have a lot of nurseries that have seed right now,” said Kamangadazi, adding, “Partners are also coming in to assist to meet our target of 1.5 million trees this season.”
Tulimbangane VNRMC chairperson, Muhammad Chilingo said 2020/2021 tree planting season registered a good tree survival rate because of good collaboration among partners at district and community level.
“With adequate resources and good collaboration it is possible to improve forest reserves in the district,” Chilingo said, adding that building capacity of VNRMCs in the district from nursery management to forest management has greater potential to sustain forest areas.
He, therefore, called on other VNRMCs and entire communities to protect forest reserves and village forest areas against encroachment, fire and other human practices that could destroy forests in their respective areas.
Chilingo also appealed to communities in Mangochi to get ready and actively participate in the 2021/2022 tree planting season by planting a variety of trees species in all bare areas to increase forest cover and also to minimize environmental degradation.