by Larbi Didouqen

The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) makes the third Monday of January a national meeting point for planting trees and the official opening of the tree crop campaign.

During this commemorative day, all HAF staff in collaboration with partners and volunteers dedicate themselves to planting trees in school spaces, agricultural and forestry grounds, the borders surrounding cemeteries, and where communities determine.

HAF volunteers are an integral part of the teams and join them in all areas scheduled in advance for planting.

Our team, which traveled to the province of Al Haouz, consisted of Saman, a volunteer from Austria; Youssef, a volunteer from Marrakech; Mohamed Jihazi, HAF financial manager; and myself, agroforestry advisor to HAF. Plantings took place in two villages: Ftala and Tadmamt of Asni commune, located in the Al Haouz province.

Two points characterized the day. First, the team was able to find out about the actions taken by the field staff and learned some information about planting techniques and the means that facilitate contacts between HAF and the partners. In addition, It was an opportunity to add other spaces and future partners for planting to be included in HAF’s projects and in particular the carbon offset initiative.

Alongside village community members of Tadmamt and Ftala, the HAF team and representatives of the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture planted trees. The day’s event also provided the opportunity for us to follow the state of the orchards with the farmers, to help them replace dead trees, and to integrate all the plots into the areas planted in partnership with HAF.

HAF will also assess the possibilities of working with the ISHAM cooperative of the Tadmamt village to reinforce the actions in this environment close to the HAF-community nursery in the areas.

Perhaps the most important thing we learned from this outing is the existence of a space conducive to expanding the areas to be planted and a cooperative that is very interested in sustainable agriculture. We commit to analyzing and fulfilling this potential.

Mohammed Jihazi plants olive trees in Ftala. Photo: HAF staff

Ms. Kabira, President of the ISHAM agricultural cooperative. Photo: HAF staff

Saman, a volunteer from Austria, plants a tree. Photo: HAF staff

Youssef, a volunteer from Morocco, plants a fig tree in Tadmamt douar. Photo: HAF staff

Planting around a ravine by the team the FHA and a member of the ‘’ISHAM’’ coopérative