Old Mutual, SeedCo in tree-planting exercise

Old Mutual in conjunction with SeedCo has led communities in planting trees at Malingunde in Senior Chief Masumbankhunda in Lilongwe.

In an interview on Thursday, Old Mutual group chief financial officer Vera Zulu said they wanted to promote environmental conservation and mitigate against the effects of climate change.

She said this initiative is not only beneficial to the environment but also to the communities that will benefit from the trees.

“We plan to plant 10 000 trees this year. Today we are planting 2 000. We have partnered with SeedCo to plant trees in this area,” said Zulu.

SeedCo human resource officer Chifuniro Banda said as a company that is in seed business, it was necessary and important to take a proactive role in tree-planting.

She said: “We are into the seed industry and communities in this area are our biggest customers. As a company in seed business, we cannot thrive if the environment is degraded.

“We were here last month when we planted 3 500 trees. Our target is to plant 5 000 trees in this area. Today we are here again with Old Mutual to plant more trees.”

Malingunde Ward councillor Macdonald Mandauka promised the two institutions that the trees will be taken care of.

“We are grateful to the two companies for choosing our area for this exercise. We know the importance of trees to people, as such, we will protect them,” he said