Other projects

Project Report Update from Haiti Improved Tree Seed (HITS) 

PWOJESA – Pwoje Jesyon Semans Amelyorasyon (Improved Seed Management Project) is a grassroots effort to improve the quality of important trees used in Haiti for the main economic and environmental benefits they provide.  PWOJESA received a grant  in 2009 from ITF to purchase improved tree seed and support activities in broadening the genetic base of commercially important species.   

During the period March 2009 – February 2010, Nan Jozen Nursery in La Gonave distributed 5870 seedlings for outplanting and survival rates are expected to be high due to an unusually wet winter.  The site also serves as a communitty centre and dormitory for training and outreach programs.  Improved tree seeds Gmelina Arborea from Centro Agronomica Tropical de Investiation y Ensenanza (CATIE) was introduced to the island as a well adapted, high value lumber species. Seed of Cedrela Odorata and Cordia Alliodora, also high value timer trees was imported to broaden the genetic base of these species on the island.

A Group of 20 farmers were selected for training on the importance, planting and care of cashew nut (Anacardium Occidentale).  Training was timed several months of advance of the planting season so that adequate preparations could be made to prepare the land and improve conditions for high survival and growth.  2000 cashew nut trees were planted.

Branch cuttings of 18 superior Caedrela Odorata trees were propagated to distribute to tree owners for improved seed production.  450 cuttings were propagated.  30 kilograms of improved Cedrela Odorata seed were collected from superior trees and sold or distributed on credit to nurseries on La Gonave and the mainland areas of Mirebalais and Pett Goave.

A PWOJESA co-ordinator was trained by Master Forester in seed harvesting and handling skills, tree selection, phenological study and use of forestry tools amongst others skills.

A 3 day technical and business meeting was held in December at Nan Jozen to review the past year’s activities and plan an activity schedule for 2010.  

In total 45 Cedrela Odorata, 7 Catalpa Longissima, 3 Lysiloma Sabicu, 2 Colubrina Arborescens and 2 Cordia Alliodora trees have been selected as seed trees.  5 trees (4 Cedrela Odorata,1 Catalpa Longissima) were felled for lumber.  These will be replaced as new candidates are found and the program expands.

Background to the Haiti Improved Tree Seed Project

This project increases tree productivity on the island by selecting improved tree seed. The project brings together researchers and forest practitioners, to allow Haitian farmers develop the capacity to grow more productive trees and manage them sustainably. ITF have partnered with Asosiasyon Animatè Paysan de La Gonave on La Gonave,  and American University of Les Cayes, Haiti.

Haiti has one of the lowest per capita incomes in the western hemisphere. It faces severe environmental degradation largely due to high rates of deforestation from logging and conversion of forest land to annual cash crops. Poverty, overpopulation and a lack of technical knowledge are the main causes. After many years of cutting down trees with the best characteristics and leaving behind the inferior ones the gene pool of many important trees has been depleted. Now the overall productivity of trees has reduced to a point where it is no longer commercially viable.

Seventeen Tree Nurseries in Southern Haiti and La Gonave are now using improved tree seed and 7000 seedlings of improved varieties have been distributed. The project has already seen remarkable gains in productivity in comparison to local varieties. The Haiti Improved Tree Seed Project targets an area of 200 square kilometres – but there is a clear potential to scale up to include tree nurseries throughout Haiti. It is believed other communities in Haiti will adopt sustainable tree based agro-forestry options as they see the attractive revenue they generate.

Kosovo Tree Project

This project in Kosovo, Eastern Europe is increasing forestation in Obliq for the benefit of a clean environment and public health. The Kosovo tree project is designed to help address severe environmental problems in the Obiliq region near the capital Pristina.  Obiliq is the site of two major electric generating stations and the source of coal to fire both plants; the older of these stations causes severe air pollution in the area and the open cast mine and waste heaps are a blot on the landscape.  Aureola, ITF’s partner organisation in this project is organising people from several ethnic groups to jointly develop a  community forestry plan to help re-green the landscape and mitigate the environmental impacts of the plants. 

This tree planting effort is one of the first projects our partner Aureola is undertaking with one of the local community development organisation which have been established by the Organisation for Safety and Cooperation in Europe.  These local groups are designed to address local problems at the grass-roots level and bring together people from diverse backgrounds thus avoiding ethnic conflict in the future.  Developing and implementing the community forestry project is seen as a significant step in progressing a cooperative working relationship between different elements of Kosovan society.

Belarus Orchard Regeneration

This project provides employment and a viable and sustainable alternative source of income for families in the village of Golovchitsa of Belarus through the regeneration of the old apple orchard.

A quarter of Belarus’s agricultural land was contaminated by the radioactive fallout from Chernobyl. The second major blow came with the break up of the Soviet Union. Since then the area has experienced economic decline and a rapidly deteriorating social fabric. What this means for ordinary working people is increasing poverty, poor diet and a sense of hopelessness. This is will only increase as the collective farms on which many of them work, continue to shed more jobs over the next few years.

The project ran by our partners HOPE for Families in Belarus began in the Narovlya district with the village co-operative in Golovchitsy (pop. c500) which has a historic old orchard of 8,000 fruit trees, the vast majority of which are no longer productive. The project involves the villagers, who take pride in the restoration of their heritage. One apple tree produces on average 40 kg of fruit. Thus from the initial 1,000 trees within several years the average crop could total approx. 40 tonnes. The cost of 1 kg of apples in the winter time is approx. 1,500 Belarusian Roubles (50p).