The latest Naturefriends Climate Fund project was launched on 18 June 2022 in Mali. The objective of the project is to create a commercial nursery to produce fruit tree seedlings in the village of Farako. In one year, 1,000 fruit trees such as mango, lemon, guava, mandarin, and papaya are to be produced and planted to meet the nutritional needs of the population, combat soil erosion and counteract climate change.
The people in the project region urgently need the fruit trees – as a source of food, to secure the soil and to provide shade, but above all as a sign of solidarity for not being left alone in their poverty and insecurity.
Moussa Traoré, President of Naturefriends Mali
After the start of the project activities, the team had difficulties in obtaining orange and papaya seeds due to the various crises in the country. However, the project was launched at the time of the mango season in Mali. This allowed the project team to plant a large area of mango beds.
Sixty (60) beds of 110 mango trees each were planted. In total, 6,600 mango plants were growing in the Farako nursery by September.
The delay in ordering the orange trees had a significant impact on the implementation schedule of the project’s planned activities.
The first order of orange trees arrived only in September and then the first bed was planted. The transplanting of the orange seedlings in line to give the young plants a greater developmental boost took place in November 2022.
The young mango trees were also pruned on in December 2022 to remove excess leaves. This will give them more strength.
A member of Naturefriends Mali visited the team in Farako on 21 Jan 2023 to see the progress of the project and took some nice photos of the mango and orange plots.
The next rainy season (July 2023) will mark the first tree planting in the villages of the project region.
Project budget: 6.030 Euro
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