NFA stuck with 70,000 tree seedlings

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The National Forestry Authority- NFA Gulu branch is stuck with seventy thousand trees and fruit seedlings.

The seedlings include mahogany, eucalyptus, giant lira, Africana afzelia, pawpaw, guava, oranges and mangoes.

They were donated to NFA Gulu branch in October last year by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees-UNHCR to be distributed to refugees and their host communities in Lamwo and Adjumani districts.

NFA Gulu sector manager, Haruna Buhobozi says that NFA produced three hundred thousand seedlings from its nursery beds in Pece Lukung sub ward in Pece Division but only two hundred and thirty thousand were picked by UNHCR.

The remaining seedlings which were not picked are rotting while some are overgrowing at the NFA`s nursery bed.

Buhobozi explained that this is a partnership between UNHCR and NFA to restore tree coverage in the refugees’ host areas that have greatly degraded due to refugee resettlement and other activities.

He added that they were supposed to be picked by UNHCR officials and distributed to the different areas but UNHCR in April this year informed them that they have turned their focus on the livelihoods of refugees during the COVID-19 disease pandemic.

Tom Obong, the Executive Director for NFA noted that forest covers in Uganda have been greatly depleted due to human activities including settlement, bricklaying, and charcoal burning and lumbering among others.

He is advocating for the need for trees planting to restore the degraded environment.

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