THE Tanzania Forestry Services Agency (TFS) in Geita Region has successfully planted a total of 5.1 millions trees in 4,591 hectares of the Silayo Plantation Forest.
The plantation has a total size of 69,756 hectares in Chato District.
This was revealed by Silayo Plantation Forest Conservation Officer, Mr Patrick Mbunghi, while presenting the report on Monday to the leaders of the Uhuru Torch race 2023, when they visited and inspected the project at the site.
He explained that the figures were collected from the start of the project in the financial year 2017/18 after the Silayo plantation was separated from the Biharamulo- Kahama forest reserve, which has been preserved since 1954.
“Since the initiation of this project, in the financial year 2017/18, we have successfully planted various species of trees at the level of 6.5 per cent of the entire project area, raising the plantation value project to 11bn/-.”
He said that so far, the Silayo plantation has provided about 5,220 employment opportunities and seen 964,000 tree seedlings freely provided to the residents in the area, while 118.2m/- has been used for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects.
“The Silayo plantation has improved 14 water sources protection, while a sum of 30m/- has been collected as government revenue for the financial year 2022/23,” he said, adding that TFS has set a sustainable plan to plant 770,000 tree seedlings per year.
The Environment Officer from the Office of the Vice- President, Mr Joseph Nigano insisted that the council supports TFS by managing the ‘Nasoma na Mti’ programme in order to achieve the mission of restoring diversity and environmental well-being.
He urged Tanzanians to observe the principle of conducting farming activities at a distance of 60 metres away from water sources, while also calling on the relevant authorities to professionally manage the principle in order to minimize the environmental degradation.
The leader of the Uhuru Torch race in 2023, Mr Abdalla Shaibu Kaim urged TFS to strengthen the management of the Silayo tree plantation for the mission of afforestation and re afforestation programme to be achieved.
