Village Tree Planting Project

19 January 2013 TREE PLANTING DAY
There is no electricity going to the homesteads in our village. Everyone relies on firewood for most of their domestic power needs. While the cutting down of trees in undesignated areas is a punishable offence, the practice is still rampant. Upon realising that we will soon run out of trees to cut, in addition to the adverse effects of cutting down trees, we decided to promote tree planting in our village.
On 19 January 2013 we held our first tree planting day for the village. This was a well supported function with officials from the Forestry Commission ( Mrs Makoni and team ), Zimunya High School nursery, local Councillor ( Alderman Mudede) and neighbouring Village Headmen ( Village Head Muchisi and Sabhuku Mavhiza) attending. The occasion was generously supported by Nyaradzo - Friends of the Environment Project ( represented by Mr Dodzo and the late Mr Liberty Nkomo ). Our local Environment Officer also graced the occasion. The 1000 seedlings were retailing for $1 each at the local nurseries. Nyaradzo very kindly sponsored 90 cents for each seedling ( $900 ) and the balance of $100 was donated by Ishe Mwatipedza and Amurongo Emmill Marange. Nyaradzo also provided the tent for the function and transported the seedlings to the venue. Mr Allan Muchanyereyi led the men in pitching the tent.

After all the presentation in the tent, everyone walked to the site for the community woodlot, near Nyamaire River and we all took part in planting the 1000 seedlings. It was agreed by all that we need two more community woodlots, one in each geographical cluster of the village. Nyaradzo (Friends of the Environment Project) kindly agreed to sponsor another 3000 seedlings at 90 cents each ($2,700) and Ishe Mwatipedza and Amurongo Emmill Marange pledged to provide the difference of $300. The next tree planting event was scheduled for February 2013.

Nyaradzo - Friends of the Environment Project, has a vision to plant 500 million trees by 2020. We are honoured to have contributed towards this normal cause !
A visit to the 1st woodlot in February 2013 showed that the seedlings were doing well with a very high survival rate.
See picture gallery
4 February 2013
There were no speeches and protocols this time around. Everyone came prepared for the business on hand of planting 3000 gum seedlings. The community had already prepared the three sites, an extension of the Nyamaire site, a site near Chirangaodzi mountain and the third site near the village soccer field. The two later sides were allocated 700 seedlings each, while the Nyamaire site was allocated around 600 seedlings. Each household was given 5 gum seedlings to go and plant at their homestead and start their own plantation.
A visit to the three woodlots on 5 May 2013 showed that the survival rate for the three seedlings was very high in all three woodlots. The community had rosters for watering the seedlinngs during the dry season. When termites started attacking the seedlings, Nyaradzo very kindly donated some termite poison which sorted out this challenge. Refer to picture gallery


6 MAY 2013
Approximately 80 families / individuals have taken funeral policies with Nyaradzo, the main sponsors to our Tree Planting project. The number is currently increasing each month. I see this as a truly win - win between the individuals, the community at large and our sponsors Nyaradzo. I hope to see more initiatives work on models similar to this, where everyone wins ( in more ways that one too ! ). It will be a good day when everyone in Mwatipedza Village realises the benefits ( at all the different levels you can think of ) of taking a funeral policy. The start has been very encouraging !

JUNE 2014
We had a vision that the third tree planting day should focus on fruit trees. Now, these are decidedly more expensive than the gum trees, going for an average of between $5 and $10 dollars at the nurseries. As a community, we felt we could not ask Nyaradzo to sponsor us for the fruit trees and that we had to do something on our own. Following the teaching of “…what is in your hands…”, Amurongo Emmill Marange noted that we have two prolific avocado trees at home and committed to planting avocado seedlings for the village. We also travelled to great-grandmother Chikowe’s homestead in Mutoko where we got 100 mango seedlings from around her homestead ( Mangoes grow very freely in the Mutoko area ! ) The first 100 seedling bags that we used were very kindly donated by Nyaradzo – Friends of the Environment. We purchased an additional 2000 seedling plastic bags and started planting the avocado seeds. We also challenged the community not to throw away ANY fruit seeds after eating the fruit, but to plant these in preparation for the 2014 tree planting day. Our vision was that all 2000 bags would be used by October 2014 !
Unfortunately, most of the mango seedlings did not survive the winter. However, on 29 November, we filled up the back of the double cab with 129 avocado seedlings and we distributed these to the members of the village that attended our village meeting on that day. An inspection of the Nyamaire woodlot showed that the seedlings planted in the first phase are now taller than me !

5 JUNE 2014
This year we are targetting to have a tree planting day earlier in the year as the rainy season seems to be starting earlier these days. Unlike the last one where we planted 3000 gum trees, we are targetting fruit trees this year. In the spirit of "using what we have", (1) we visited gogo in Mtoko last weekend and took the opportunity to collect 120 mango seedlings which were growing wild under her huge mango trees - these have now been transplanted into proper black seedling bags filled with black soil mixed with chicken manure ! The next few weeks will confirm how green our fingers are ... (2) We have harvested about a 100 Avocados from our two trees and as soon as they are ripe, we will plant the seeds in the seedling bags. We plan to harvest 100 more each week ! We would like to extend our appreciation to Mr Dodzo and Friends of the Environment (Nyaradzo Group) for volunteering to transport the seedlings from our house to Mwatipedza Village once we have enough numbers!! They also donated the 1st 100 bags which we used.
We are looking for more seeds / seedlings of fruit trees and /or suggestions on how to have a successful GREEN REVOLUTION in Mwatipedza Village. Please share on this platform or e-mail me on davidmarange@yahoo.com. As a demonstration of the intent and faith - this afternoon I bought 2000 seedling bags - they must all be used by the begining of October 2014!!! - Photos of project so far to follow.

6 MAY 2013
Approximately 80 families / individuals have taken funeral policies with Nyaradzo, the main sponsors to our Tree Planting project. The number is currently increasing each month. I see this as a truly win - win between the individuals, the community at large and our sponsors Nyaradzo. I hope to see more initiatives work on models similar to this, where everyone wins ( in more ways that one too ! ). It will be a good day when everyone in Mwatipedza Village realises the benefits ( at all the different levels you can think of ) of taking a funeral policy. The start has been very encouraging !