Experts advocate economic trees planting to tackle climate change, poverty

Zamfara gov to plant one million against natural disaster

Following commitment by President Muhammadu Buhari to plant 26 million trees to tackle climate change, experts have urged government to channel efforts towards planting economic trees such as cocoa and cashew.

This, according to them, will not only tackle climate change, but also create jobs and lift many communities out of poverty, as a community can earn up to N1 billion yearly from one million economic trees.

Agroforestry expert, Suleman Dikwa, told The Guardian that “agroforestry provides a lot of opportunities for farmers.”

He gave instance that a farmer with 30 trees could earn up to N1 million yearly for the next 30 to 50 years. “If 1.2 billion trees are planted properly and built around agroforestry, millions of Nigerians can be lifted out of poverty and Nigeria can be number one in selected crops such as cashew, cocoa, palm oil and moringa.”

Dikwa, who is also the Country Director of Re-Forest Action, a project supported in Nigeria by Prince of Wales, said: “When we started our tree planting campaign, we found out that in the last 40 years, nobody has planted 100,000 trees; but within three month we started our programme we have been able to achieve that.”

IN the same vein, Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, in collaboration with the Nigeria Great Green Wall, will plant one million arable trees to fight desertification and soil erosion in the state.

A statement, yesterday, signed by his Director-General, Media, Public Enlightenment and Communication, Yusuf Gusau, noted that the governor divulged the information on Saturday, in Glasgow, United Kingdom, when he hosted the Zamfara State Side Event at the ongoing 26th Conference of Parties (COP26).

He said, as one of the frontline desert states in Nigeria with its 50 per cent landmass under threat of desertification, coupled with soil degradation occasioned by flooding caused during rainy seasons, his administration ventured into the scheme to save the largely agrarian society of the state farming millet, guinea corn, maize, rice and other crops and guaranteeing food security of Nigeria.