During the rainy season, CREATE! field technicians help community members transplant tree seedlings. For the past few months, cooperative members have been starting tree seedlings in small containers and caring for them in tree nurseries. Now that the rains have returned, it is safe to transplant the fragile seedlings. Although this reforestation campaign has just started, the communities of Fass Koffe and Fass Kane have planted a combined total of more than 1,000 trees.
Community members and field technicians planted a variety of tree species, including papayas, flame trees, lemons, almonds, cashews, acacias, mango, and beechwood. In the future, cooperative members will harvest fruit and nuts from these trees. Other species will provide shade, serve as windbreaks, and produce firewood in later years.
In each partner communities, cooperative members and CREATE! staff planted trees both within the garden plots and throughout the community. Women planted trees next to schools, mosques, and in community gathering places. Within a few short years, these trees will be an asset for these communities.
Soda Kane, a cooperative member in Fass Kane, sums up the reforestation project: “I’m planning for the future now. If you plan, you can have benefits for many years. One way is by planting trees that will benefit our children and the environment.”