By Joel Phiri

Mzimba, February 8, Mana: Senior Forestry officer for Mzimba District, Masozi Shaba says her office has earmarked to plant five million trees in the 2025/2026 tree planting season.

In an interview on Friday ahead of the tree planting exercise set for Tuesday, Shaba has called upon all stakeholders to get involved in planting trees to bring back lost vegetative cover in the district.

‘‘As Mzimba district forestry office, we are committed to ensuring the preservation of our forests through offering protection to our forests and planting of trees. For the 2025/2026 tree planting season we are expected to plant 5,076, 577 trees in the various areas of the district’’, said Shaba.

She disclosed that her office has so far partnered with various organisations such as Ripple Africa, Plan Malawi International, Restore Africa, Adra Malawi, Find Your Feet and Malawi-Zambia Trans frontier Conservation Area Project in the tree planting exercise.

According to Shaba, the district’s official launch of tree planting season will take place at Magomelo Primary School in Traditional Authority Mpherembe and Paramount Chief M’mbelwa V will grace the occasion as guest of honour.

Wanton cutting down of trees has become one of the major concerns among forestry stakeholders in Mzimba and currently, effort to plant more tress has been heightened by various players to restore the lost vegetative cover.

Shaba said in 2024/2025 season, the district planted over 4,291,000 trees of which 67 percent survived.

She appealed to communities to take care of the trees to ensure control of runoff water.

Senior land resources officer for Mzimba, Olive Nyalira said there is need for effort aimed at bringing back lost vegetative cover.

He said the district has intensified tree planting programs to ensure that bare land is covered.

‘‘Programmes such as Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme (CSEPWP) where one component is tree planting are also complementing efforts by the Forestry department in ensuring we plant more trees.

“We urge communities to join these tree planting exercises and look after the planted trees to ensure they survive’’, said Nyalira.

An environmental advocate Mathews Malata has commended M’mbelwa District Council through its Forestry office for planning to plant five million trees to restore vegetative cover in the district.

‘‘But planting trees is one thing and looking after them to ensure they grow up to a level where they survive on their own is another. I therefore appeal to authorities to provide measures to ensure that the trees they plant survive particularly within the first five years. They should ensure trees are safe from goats and even fire’’, said Malata.