Nasfam in forestry regeneration exercise
National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (Nasfam) chief executive officer Betty Chinyamunyamu says the organisation seeks to plant over one million trees during this year’s National Tree Planting Season.
Speaking in Traditional Authority (T/A) Kabudula in Lilongwe on Tuesday when Nasfam launched the exercise, she said the trees will be important to farmers.
Said Chinyamunyamu: “We support farmers with technical support and provision of chemicals for pest management.
“However, we also support them to plant trees because the forests will help them generate money through beekeeping. We provide beehives for the farmers to use in the forests. We hope we will buy the honey they produce.”
She said Nasfam will process the honey and add it to the list of their products.
Department of Forestry forestry officer Pilirani Kamanga commended Nasfam for complementing government’s efforts to promote good forestry management.
She said every farmer should plant and manage trees.
“One of the challenges has been managing trees to survive. Therefore, we ask farmers to take care of the trees to ensure high survival rate,” said Kamanga.
Group village head Thomu thanked Nasfam for supporting the community manage forests.
He said his subjects were expecting to yield positive results from the forests in terms of beekeeping and firewood.
President Lazarus Chakwera launched the 2024 National Forestry Season on January 8 2024 at Mpasa Hill in Phalombe District.
