Engage farmers in reversing deforestion in Zambia

Fruit tree grafting as a skill supports businesses, women empowerment and environmentally friendly practices

In Zambia, girls often drop out of school too early to start taking care of their family. Therefore, WeForest has a specific focus on training women to become entrepreneurs. By learning new skills and organizing themselves, women can diversify their income and become more financially independent.

Jane N. is 42 years old and Treasurer of a women’s cooperative in Mpatamatu, in Luanshya district, Zambia. In August 2016, she followed a fruit tree grafting training together with some other women of her region. Now, one year later, she is taking the lead to organize those women into a women’s grafting group. They will graft different varieties of Orange trees (incl. Valencia) and Citrus trees (incl. Tangelo) for commercial purposes. To support them, WeForest is preparing their first order where we guarantee market take off at competitive prices for their first 500 healthy grafted fruit trees.

Women that follow those training receive mother stock, seeds and grafting equipment to start up their own micro nurseries. They are asked to invite other women in their neighborhood to disseminate the knowledge to. Also, women that come for training are engaged in reforestation where they set aside a minimum of 2 lima (0.5 ha) of land for assisted natural regeneration.

In Zambia, deforestation and forest degradation severely impacts local livelihoods and directly affects the local water table. By diversifying people’s income and engaging them in forest restoration activities, reforestation and economic benefits can go hand in hand.