Property management and development firm Mpico Limited has planted 10 000 tree seedlings in Ntchisi to help conserve the environment. Speaking during a tree planting ceremony at Mbomba Secondary School on Saturday, the company’s facility manager Ellen Chapinduka Nyasulu said the initiative seeks to improve people’s livelihoods in the district. Ntchisi, according to local authorities, is suffering from massive deforestation because of tobacco farming. “We believe that trees have a significant impact on lives of people. Without trees there’s no life. This is why we are taking part in conserving the environment,” she said. Ntchisi district commissioner Andrew Lohimi said the initiative taken by Mpico will energise the district to step up environemtal conservation initiatives. He said although the district has massive vegetation cover, the rate of deforestation is alarming. “At the rate trees are being cut, we may end up having very few in the near future. The time to replant is now,” Lihomo said.
(Source: The Nation, Monday, 28 January 2019)