Amuru farmers to plant over a million trees
AMURU, October 26, 2023 – Farmers in Amuru district under the umbrella of Kilak Farmers Cooperative Society have entered into a partnership with Kijani Forestry to plant trees in the district.
Kijani Forestry works with local communities and smallholder farms throughout Uganda to support sustainable agroforestry as well as to plant and tend to native trees.
Michael Lakony, a board member of the cooperative society says they intend to plant over one million trees in 2024 noting that registration, and training of farmers are already ongoing.
About 395,000 trees have so far been planted in the parishes of Gaya, Labala, Okungedi, Pagak and Pamuca as a result of the partnership.
Lakony, also the LCV chairperson Amuru district says farmers in the sub counties of Guru-guru, Layima, Pabo, Pogo, Opara and Atiak are being engaged to be enrolled in the tree planting project.
Under the partnership, Lakony reveals that members of the community are identified, and trained on forest management and in turn those trained pass the knowledge to the other members of the community.
According to Lakony, the trees being planted are for both timber and charcoal purposes, which he says will go a long way on restoring the already lost tree cover as well producing eco-friendly charcoal
Catherine Nagadya Cynthia, manager Kijani Forestry in charge of community outreach and partnership engagement says under the partnership, the company looks at addressing deforestation challenges as well as the impact of climate change, which she says have affected livelihoods of farmers.
She says the trees to be planted are indigenous, fast growing, drought resistant, and multi-purpose and that they play a key role in improving the soil texture to support farming.
“The partnership comes with training to farmers to manage their nursery, technical guidance in regards nursery and plantation management, from the seeding to its growth,” she says.
“We also provide incentives in terms of indigenous fruit trees, jack fruits, mangoes, paw paws, among others which the farmers can plant and upon maturing can pick the fruits and sell,” she adds.
According to Nagadya, the company is also giving an incentive of Shs 100mln for each surviving tree which is calculated and paid on an annual basis.
Amuru district, like other districts in Northern Uganda has been one of the key exporters of charcoal, leaving several thousands of acres of tree cover destroyed.
The goal of Kijani Forestry is to store and distribute seeds for nursery hubs across the country and provide access to seeds for rural farmers and foresters. Since launching our partnership, Kijani has stored 7,825,000 native seeds in its seed bank.
https://thecooperator.news/cooperatives-to-benefit-from-we-effect-vi-agroforestry-collaboration/
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