Minister leads in tree planting
Minister of Information, Civic Education and Communications Technology Mark Botomani on Friday joined Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) staff in a tree planting exercise on Mulanje Mountain.
The trees that were planted included Mulanje Cedar which is popular for providing high quality timber, mibawa and mwabvi.
Speaking during the function, Botomani commended the State broadcaster for the exercise, saying it was in line with government’s policy of restoring the country’s vegetation cover.
He said: “The importance of planting trees, particularly in Mulanje Mountain, cannot be over emphasised. We are grappling with climate change and planting trees is one way of averting it.
“Here in Mulanje, we have been briefed that the Mulanje Cedar, which is a very important and rare breed, is almost extinct. This is a worrisome development and we need to act as a nation.”
He called on all stakeholders to work together in taking care of the newly-planted trees to ensure maximum survival rate.
In his remarks, Mulanje district forestry officer Eric Mbingwani said his office is working with various organisations to restore the Mulanje Cedar breed with 500 000 trees being planted last year alone.
“The survival rate has been ranging from 60 to 75 percent. This is despite the two major challenges of bush fires and dry spells,” he said.
MBC board chairperson the Reverend Daniel Gunya said 600 trees were planted on the day.
On December 18, President Peter Mutharika launched the 2019/20 National Forestry Season under the theme Trees and Forests for Transformed Landscape and Livelihoods.
Malawi expects to plant 62 million trees during the season which runs up to April 15 2020.
