Ekiti plans to plant one million tree yearly

Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, said on Wednesday that the tree planting programme of the state government was targeted at boosting the state revenue generation, youth employment and regenerating degraded portions of the forests.

Fayemi, represented by the Speaker, Ekiti State House of Assembly, Funminiyi Afuye, spoke at Aramoko Ekiti, Ekiti West Local Government Area at the inauguration of the afforestation programme under which five million trees would be planted in five years.

He said the programme, being prosecuted by the World Bank-assisted Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, “will ensure planting of crop and economic trees that will increase revenues of Ekiti people and government, as well as help in providing jobs for youth, control erosion and flooding.”

“Ekiti NEWMAP is a multi-sectoral intervention project with the core objectives to rehabilitate degraded lands, reduce erosion and flooding disasters and create sustainable environment, which supports livelihood and boost the ecosystem,” Fayemi said.

NEWMAP Project Coordinator, Dr Akinyemi Akinyugha, said, “By target, one million trees are to be planted annually. The trees, both indigenous and assorted, will be planted across the nine forest reserves and individuals’ farmlands, for a period of five years.”

The Commissioner for Environment, Iyabo Fakunle-Okieimen, said apart from the 250 hectares targeted by government for the afforestation exercise, individual farmers had also been motivated to plant 100 hectares of trees for aggressive afforestation drive in Ekiti.

Fakunle-Okhieimen said, “The 540 youth and farmers empowered to participate in forest regeneration process got free 38,000 tree seedlings for orchards and watershed plantations.”

Credit: Punch