Nandi East Sub County, led by Deputy County Commissioner Ngalia Ndaya, joined the country to mark Mazingira Day by planting 21,000 trees in different primary schools within the Sub County as a measure to meet the presidential directive of planting 15 billion trees by the year 2032.
Speaking during the tree planting event held at Kosoiywo primary school, Ngalia divulged that over 200 trees were planted in each of the 98 primary schools in Nandi East Sub County, totalling 21,000 trees.
The DCC underscored the importance of planting fruit trees in schools, noting that fruits have nutritive value, including providing dietary supplements to meals, a reason they should be planted in institutions as well as at home to improve the health of the community, especially the young ones.
“This year’s Mazingira Day focused on planting fruit trees in primary schools. All the primary schools in our Sub County today participated in the tree-planting exercise. We are encouraging planting of fruit trees to enhance the nutritional supplements for the young ones,” explained Ndaya, calling on residents and heads of institutions to ensure the trees are protected to ensure they grow to maturity.
The administrator further observed that as a Sub County, they are capable of planting more trees. However, he noted that most primary schools had limited space and called on residents to also ensure they plant fruit trees at their homes.
“One challenge we face is that most of the primary schools lack enough space for growing trees and therefore we are still looking into how to solve those challenges,” pointed out DCC Ndaya.
The Forest Conservator of Nandi East Sub County, Rebi Kerich, encouraged the community to embrace planting trees to ensure every home and institution achieves 30 per cent tree cover, as trees restore the environment and biodiversity.
“We are working in line with the president’s directive of planting 15 billion trees. We are encouraging the community to embrace tree planting at home, especially fruit trees, to restore the ecosystem as well as achieve 30 per cent tree cover in each compound,” emphasised the Forest Conservator adding that fruit trees have a lot of benefits namely providing food and nutrition supplements, mitigating climate change and purifying air, among others.
By Ruth Mainye
