Yesterday CFI and CFP staff visited the community of Wawi, located in the Vitongoji village. The organization has been supporting the community’s efforts to plant trees and has identified Wawi as a good fit for an agroforestry demonstration site.
This year, in addition to planting the 306,000 trees that the organization has helped grow, Community Forest International and their communities want to make a valuable addition to Pemba’s tree-planting efforts – we want to add food to the equation. In addition to growing trees for fruit and timber we will start working some food producing crops into our forest planting activities. We aim to grow a mix of corn, millet, watermelon, red pepper, green peppers, sunflowers, pineapples, pigeon peas and tomatoes. By planting food producing crops amongst seedlings, communities will receive food and produce while waiting for the forests to grow. Wawi took to the idea right away and planted the 700 pineapple suckers the organization provided. By mixing food and forest together, communities can work to grow food while the forest feeds their prospects for the future.
