Tena, Ecuador, October 2021
For this third planting wave in Tena, a canton in the Ecuadorian Amazon, trees are going to be planted in the area of Misahualli!
Given the success of the project with A Tree for You donors, it has been agreed to increase the number of plants produced in the nursery – in order to plant more trees than originally planned. A total of 14,000 trees will be planted, of which 11,200 will remain after several years. Many thanks to the project donors!
Since February 2021, two communities from the villages of Santo Urku and Kachiwañuchka created two nurseries using local materials (palm, bamboo).
The beneficiary groups prepared substrate to fill the planting bags, mixing black soil collected locally and organic Bokashi fertilizer prepared by the association Ishpingo.
After this community work, the beneficiaries took part in training courses: during which all of them, 35 people, learned how to prepare the substrate for the seeds or seedlings, harvest the seeds or seedlings, and prepare the organic fertiliser and seed bags.
Thanks to these mingas (collective working groups), the beneficiaries have prepared 14,183 tree seedlings, 58% of which will eventually produce timber wood and 42% fruit. A total of 35 beneficiaries will benefit from this new wave of planting, 54% of whom are women.
Everything is looking good for the planting period which is approaching fast!
Feedback from Jorge Cerda, a project beneficiary from the community of Santo Urku:
“This year (2021) my wife and I decided to continue the reforestation work. A year ago, we had already taken part in the second planting wave of the project and planted some timber and fruit trees on our farm. Since we were happy with the result, we decided to carry on planting trees! These are very good species that are no longer to be found on our land. I am proud to be able to leave this legacy to my children and, even I myself might able to use the wood to build a house or canoe!”
For each project carried out by A Tree for You, the survival rate of the trees is taken into account in the price of the tree in order to assure donors that all the trees financed will be planted and will last. For this project, the survival rate is estimated at 80%: 14,000 seedlings will therefore be planted to reach the objective of 11,200 long lasting trees. “Long lasting” means a tree that will not be cut down for twenty years or more. The project includes training for beneficiaries to encourage them to replant cut trees and to preserve certain trees to allow natural regeneration of the wood resource. In addition, the local partner Ishpingo is developing monthly workshops in schools to raise children’s awareness of these issues!
Next steps: transporting the plants and planting are planned for between August and December 2021, according to the provisional schedule. Then, further tasks will be monitoring and maintaining the plots on the farmers’ premises (two to three visits annually, per farmer) and training the farmers (on site during each visit) from December 2021 to August 2024, to ensure good tree growth and pruning practices.
