Lilongwe District to plant 5.5m trees

Lilongwe district forestry officer Margaret Kawalewale says the district is set to plant about 5.5 million tree seedlings during the 2023/24 National Forestry Season.

Speaking in an interview on Saturday ahead of the district’s tree-planting exercise on January 19, she urged community members to concentrate on planting fruit trees such as mangoes and oranges.

“We have many tree seedlings and we are optimistic that we will go above our target. We don’t need to delay since we are experiencing erratic rains,” said Kawalewale.

She said last year only 65 percent of the trees survived in the district due to dry spells.

Said Kawalewale: “I ask people to take part in the tree-planting exercise and take care of them to ensure high survival rate.

“People should know that trees need pre-pruning. So, they should do this in time. Again, in March and April, we need to create firebreaks around woodlots to protect the trees from fire.”

Jazel Lamitoni, a community member from Mzingo Village in Nkhoma, said they are ready to plant more trees this year, saying she realised the importance of trees.

Lamitoni, who is also one of the beneficiaries of Climate-Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme, said this year they will concentrate on planting trees along river banks to prevent floods.

Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change is targeting to plant 34 million trees during this year’s Natural Forest Season.

Malawi Government launched the National Forest Season on December 15 2023 and it will run up to April 15 this year