Natural Resources College (NRC) on Thursday led people in Lilongwe in a tree-planting exercise in a drive to revive forests in the district. The college’s officials and students planted 1 200 trees in Mtema Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Maliri in the district.
during the exercise
NRC principal Timothy Gondwe said the college has a role to lead Malawians in planting more trees so that the country reclaims forests which have been depleted. He said: “It is Natural Resources College’s mandate to improve communities and one way of doing this is by planting trees. We have planted these trees in Lilongwe because our institution is in Lilongwe. We have started with our home [Lilongwe] before we do the same in other parts of the country.” He added that NRC students will also be using the planted trees for the practical part of their studies. Lilongwe Rural South West member of Parliament (MP) Peter Chakhwantha (Malawi Congress Party-MCP) said NRC has set a good example to the community. He said he will, therefore, encourage people in the area to plant more trees during this rainy season. He said: “Deforestation is a problem in many areas including my own in which NRC has planted these trees. We will ensure that we plant more trees and take care of them.” Although there is a dry spell in the area, Group Village (GVH) Head Mtema said the community will be irrigating the trees until rains come again. n
