by Solomon Malata (NfYD/GIE advocate)
Network for youth Development with funding from the royal Norwegian embassy is implementing its Sustainable Agriculture Lead farmer Programme (SALFP) in Mzimba north where by it is working with various youth clubs both in and out schools with an aim of addressing various challenges on climate change which Malawi has been experiencing recently evident with erratic rain falls etcetera.
In joining hands with various stakeholders in making sure that our environment is being sustained, NfYD trains various youths on how they can plant trees and take a good care of them. It has been observed recently that for the past years most of the trees that have been planted across Malawi its survival rate is minimal hence people are not mentored on how they can take a good care of the trees planted. It is against this back ground that NfYD trains youths on taking care of the trees planted, not only during rainy season but also during summer by using drip system.
Youths are told to bring empty plastic bottles which are later filled with water and then a small hole is created on the bottle top to be depositing water into the ground in drops as it is position upside down for the drops to be coming out straight into the soil just beside a tree, this technology was developed with help from extension workers who are working with Mzuzu ADD under Engucwini EPA in Mzimba District, thanks to the good collaboration with our colleagues.
In addition NFYD uses the tree naming system to also sustain the trees, on this approach students who are in various youth clubs which NfYD established in schools are encouraged to adopt one to two trees which are named after them, this approach assist the matrons and patrons monitor easily the students who are taking care of the trees and those who are not since each and every one is given a task to water and weed his or her tree weekly. This approach has helped a lot in sustaining tree in hence students do take ownership of the trees which are provided to them.
Currently over 4000 tree have been sustained out of the 5000 which were planted in the 2017-2018 rainy season. It is important that as stakeholders who are helping in complementing government efforts on issues of climate change should be flexible to learn and be willing to collaborate with fellow stakeholders if we are to win the battle against climate change for the common good of our nation. It is also important that as stakeholders in various sectors we should make deliberate efforts on including the youths if we are sustain various interventions being made on the ground since the youths are considered to be the drive force for development.