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UFA-REFOREST project: the nurseries are expanding!

01.07.2022

Within the framework of the UFA-REFOREST project, it is planned to plant more than 240,000 trees over four years in order to enrich felling gaps, parks and plots in degraded environments in the Forest Management Units of Cameroon. In order to have a sufficient number of good quality seedlings, the nurseries of the project's partner companies had to be expanded.

In order to dimension the size needed for the nurseries, it was necessary to take into account the annual planting objectives per company, the average germination rate of the seeds (about 55%) and the growth time needed to reach the optimal height for transplanting (40 to 80 cm), while taking into account the selection made before planting. Indeed, it is recommended to keep only the most vigorous and best-conformed seedlings for transplanting, i.e. about 70% of the plants.

One of the first activities of the project was therefore the expansion of the existing nurseries to reach a total capacity of 170,000 plants for all four companies.  Several nurserymen were also recruited and trained to ensure the follow-up of the plants and the daily management of these nurseries. The regular supply of quality seeds will allow to progressively fill these extensions and to reach the reforestation objectives.

You will find a lot of technical information on these topics in the practical guide to tree planting, which is available for free access. This guide was developed with the technical support of our partners Nature+, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech and ENSET.

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