Minister of Natural Resources Patricia Wiskes has commended Ripple Africa for the role it is playing to restore lost vegetative cover in Mzimba District through large-scale tree-planting project.

She made the remarks on Sunday during a tour of community woodlots established by local farmers at Jenda under Ripple Africa’s tree-planting project.

Wiskes (L) admires young pine trees. | Elton Mhango

Wiskes said the organisation’s efforts complement government’s national afforestation and environmental restoration agenda.

She said: “We commend Ripple Africa for championing afforestation in Mzimba District.

“It is important that communities and farmers who invest their land, labour and time benefit directly from proceeds generated through such investments.”

The minister added that government will engage stakeholders to ensure farmers get a fair share from carbon credit sales being championed under the project.

Under the project, farmers plant trees on their land using seedlings provided by Ripple Africa. The number of seedlings allocated depends on the size of their land.

Ripple Africa country director Force Ngwira said the project, which started in 2016, plans to plant three million annually.

“So far, we have planted over 30 million trees working with smallholder farmers. We will continue engaging government on modalities to ensure shared benefits from the project,” he said.

One of the farmers, Chiza Tembo said he was managing 14 000 trees after investing over K15 million in the past two years.

“My target is to plant more trees every year. The trees will help restore lost forests,” he said.

The tree-planting project is funded by a United Kingdom-based Green Collar charity