Africa-Press – Malawi. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has commended Pyxus Agriculture Limited for its reforestation management program saying its modern technology of planting and growing trees within a short period will go a long way in preserving the country’s forests and other natural resources which have the potential of boosting the country’s economy.
USAID Malawi’s office Director of Sustainable Economic Growth Jeff de Graffenried made the remarks on Tuesday after touring about 3,000 hectares of forest which Pyxus Agriculture Limited is managing at Chikangawa Forest in Mzimba under a concession program through the Public Private Partnership (PPP).
“Let me commend Pyxus Agriculture for its efforts to venture into the forestry management program of this magnitude where they are planting trees using modern technologies with an aim of producing various products such as timber and wood. “This initiative has an outright capability of boosting the country’s exports earnings but also at the same time create employment as well as improve the reforestation drive in the country,” said Graffenried.
Graffenried therefore urged other companies and organizations in the country that are in forestry business and other environmental conservations programs to emulate some of the modern technologies which Pyxus Agriculture is implementing in its forestry plantations across the country where the trees are fully grown and ready for use within four to five years after being planted.
According to Graffenried, his office has so far assisted Pyxus Agriculture with some financial support of which part of it has been pumped into the company’s forestry department which he believes will go a long way in promoting reforestation activities and environmental conservation issues in the country.
In his remarks Pyxus Agriculture Limited Managing Director Ronald Ngwira said his company will continue planting more trees in Chikangawa and other forestry plantations which it is currently managing in the country as one way of easing the challenges of forestry products in the country especially timber and electricity poles.
“We will continue to expand our forestry plantations by planting more trees both here in Chikangawa and other 13 more forests which we are currently managing so that at the end of it all we can be able to produce timber, poles, wood and other forestry related products locally and in the process creating more jobs in the surrounding communities as well as boosting the country’s economy,” said Ngwira.
Pyxus Agriculture’s Director of Forestry Shingirirai Ndolo said his company is expected to plant over one million tree seedlings this year covering over 500 hectares, adding that about 800,000 tree seedlings have already been planted in various plantations including at its Chikangawa concession site.
According to Ndolo, annually, his company manages to achieve about 98 percent survival rate of all the tree seedlings that are planted saying such is the case as they use modern and systematic methods of planting trees prime among them being planting the best global tree genetics and by also taking proper care for each planted tree seedling.
“Tree genetics is an important part of our business and what we do plant is the best genetics available in the world as we collaborate with some of the forestry research institutes within and outside Malawi and seek to secure the best tree genetics that can give us the best survival rate once planted,” said Ndolo.
He commended the cordial relationship which his company has so far developed with the surrounding communities, a development he said has eradicated incidents of arson fires to his company’s forests.
Apart from forestry management programs, Pyxus Agriculture is also involved in buying and processing groundnuts in the country and has one of the biggest groundnuts processing factory in sub Saharan Africa.
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