{"id":2160,"date":"2018-04-07T17:56:48","date_gmt":"2018-04-07T15:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/didouqen.com\/?p=2160"},"modified":"2021-09-14T10:59:09","modified_gmt":"2021-09-14T10:59:09","slug":"1-million-tree-campaign-haf-2012-planting-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/1-million-tree-campaign-haf-2012-planting-season\/","title":{"rendered":"1 MILLION TREE CAMPAIGN – HAF 2012 PLANTING SEASON"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
<\/td>\nSince 2000,
\ncreating synergistic partnerships
\nthat drive sustainable, community-initiated
\ndevelopment in Morocco<\/em><\/td>\n		<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
* * * P R E S S R E L E A S E * * * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
\nDate: June 18, 2012, Tahanaout, Morocco
\nContact: Ouafa Elbargui, High Atlas Foundation – Tel. U.S. (001) 646-688-2946 | Morocco (212) (0) 524-48-48-24 –\u00a0ouafa@highatlasfoundation.org<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
\n

1 Million Tree Campaign – HAF 2012 Planting Season<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

As the 2012 planting season draws to a close, HAF is happy to report that our partners have helped us plant a record number of fruit and nut trees again this year (128,792), bringing the total number of trees planted since 2003 to 458,592, benefitting 36,000 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HAF does not simply go into a community and plant trees.\u00a0We only plant trees if a community\u2019s members have decided through their participatory planning process that transitioning from subsistence farming to raising fruit and nut trees would improve their lives…\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>and then, they choose the kind of trees and they build the tree nursery. They send representatives of each village to learn how to raise trees while helping run the nursery, and they pass along their learning to fellow villagers. After 2 years, the young fruit trees are distributed to households for their orchards. By 6 years later we generally see families\u2019 incomes double, and for many families the increase is multiple-fold.<\/p>\n

For a village to decide to transition after generations of subsistence farming (barley and corn) to raising fruit trees, requires a tremendous amount of courage.<\/p>\n

This year, the High Commission of Waters and Forests and its Marrakech regional department supplied the encouragement. By lending arable land on which to grow the nurseries, they have helped reduce the risk and eliminate the cost of the trees for the farmers.<\/td>\n

<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The High Atlas Foundation facilitates community dialogue regarding projects and works together to raise financial support for material and training costs, and the benefitting communities contribute their labor in-kind.<\/p>\n

3 new tree projects launched in 2012:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Taroudant Province: 40,000 walnut and 40,000 almond<\/li>\n
  2. Al Haouz Province: 30,000 walnut and 10,000 cherry<\/li>\n
  3. Ben Guerir Province: 8,000 olive trees<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Planted with school children:<\/strong>
    \n\u201cSami\u2019s Project: Trees for Kids\u201d<\/a>\u00a0planted 650 trees with the students, staff and parents\u2019 associations of 5 schools in the Al Haouz Province in its successful inaugural year, while another 142 trees were planted with schools in the Ben Guerir Province.<\/p>\n

    Trees distributed from nurseries:<\/strong>
    \nIn February, 22,000 walnut and cherry tree saplings were distributed to families in 43 villages in the Taroudant Province – from 2 nurseries established by HAF in 2010 in memory of\u00a0    Kate Jeans-Gail Memorial<\/a>, a former Peace Corps Volunteer who served in and loved Morocco.<\/p>\n

    While we all know the environmental benefits from trees, that\u2019s not the only reason for this campaign. Trees are also good for Morocco as a means to fight desertification and erosion and also to lift entire rural communities out of poverty. (Trees alone of course cannot end poverty: Nurseries combined with irrigation projects (integrating clean drinking water whenever possible), value added and other initiatives that add economic diversity, and skills-building education are the most common priorities expressed by approximately 120 rural villages in 6 provinces with whom HAF currently partners. HAF is also dedicated to these community projects.)<\/p>\n

    Rural Moroccans make up approximately 45% of the country\u2019s population of 32 million, and the World\u00a0Bank estimates that 85% of their households earn less than the national average. As a corollary, 19% of the Moroccan population live beneath the national poverty line, with 70% of that 19% living in rural areas.<\/p>\n

    The combination of population growth and the low market-value of traditional staple crops (corn and barley), from which most rural households derive their income, have made subsistence agriculture unsustainable. According to Morocco\u2019s Ministry of Agriculture, these staples are planted on more than 70% of agricultural land, yet account for only 10-15% of agricultural revenue.<\/p>\n