Nurseries

The tree nursery project is developing a plan dealing with crop diversity and the layout of the rehabilitated mine land. The plan envisages that KMAD will use community groups to produce the trees.

The Mine rehabilitation team has prepared the soil surface and conducted tests to evaluate the land’s suitability for food crops. A total of five hundred fruit trees (cashews, mangoes, avocados, pears and oranges) and different food crops of local varieties (cassava, beans and ground nuts) have been planted. The harvests of the food crops have been distributed to the community and some have been kept as seed for replanting.

KMAD also promoted the establishment of tree nurseries in schools in neighbouring villages, as part of a government initiative launched by the Mozambican President under the slogan “One tree per pupil” to raise awareness of environmental issues amongst children at an early age and teach them the need to replace natural resources for the coming generations.

The WWF technician assisted on this initiative and school directorates together with the teachers designed a plan for maintenance of the nursery, with schedules in order that all children take part in the activities. A total of one hundred trees have been prepared in the nurseries and will be ready for transplanting. KMAD is looking forward to expanding this initiative to all schools in the area.