FINDING SEEDLINGS
One of our projects concerning climate change awareness and reforestation involved the plantation of hundreds of trees around 12 schools. So, our urgently demand for seedlings, because we were already in the rainy season, lasted 2 months.
At first, we went to the Chikangawa Forestry Department but, unfortunely, we discovered that they were only planting Bluegum trees
We don’t support this tree. After all, Bluegum as known as Eucalyptus is a very fast growing tree that requires a lot of water. According to Chikangawa Forestry Department, each tree sucks 30 liters of water a day. In fact, this tree that spreads like a plague is destroying and changing the ecosystem not just here in Malawi but in several places around the world.
In Chikangawa, they directed us to the Mzimba Forest Office since this Department is in charge of planting indigenous trees.
We went there to have a meeting and it was recommended that we visited the Mzimba Agriculture Office in our research for fruit seedlings. There, it was explained to us how the department was structured and how the programs were running in the communities with the goal to incentivize tree planting and to inform about new efficient techniques of agroforestry.
At this point, we had already met three departments, however we still didn’t have any contact where we could purchase fruit trees.
Suddenly, late in that day, coming back from Mzimba town to DAPP, we met Mr. Joe Ndawala, responsible for food production in DAPP. We told him what we looking for and he suggested us one person that was selling seedlings also to the school. His name was Mr. Vincent Nkhata and his home was in Mbwiriwiza.
We went there in the next day and we agreed to buy 40 moringas and 208 pawpaws. The seedlings were kept in his home since we always move on bike and is physically impossible to carry all of those trees. First we needed to talk with DAPP Transport office in order to pick the seedlings and deliver in some of the schools.
After that, we continued to search for people who were selling more varieties of trees but nothing. Then, one day Margarida went to Mzimba and in one of the tracks she meet Mr. Albert Somanje, a Forest Office’s worker that told her about his friend that was selling guavas and avocado pears.
It was destiny!
Margarida got the contact of Mr. Richard Chipeta, our next seller and future friend, based in Mzimba town. In the next day we went to his house and we made immediately an agreement. On the next day we went to pick the seedlings with DAPP´s car, distributing them to four schools.
It didn’t take us so much time to come back to Mr. Chipeta’s house to buy more seedlings for the other 8 schools that were remaining. In that day, one friend of him, Mr. Bright, was in his house and told us that he was also selling fruit trees. He just had 15 guavas and 35 pawpaws, so we bought them all.
So, in total, we bought 208 pawpaws and 40 moringas to Mr. Nkhata; 206 avocado pears, 80 guavas, 120 moringas and 16 mangos to Mr. Chipeta; and 35 pawpaws and 15 guavas to Mr. Bright. This was the total of seedlings for 12 schools.