By Vincent Gunde 
By Vincent Gunde
One Acre Fund ( Farmers First) has promised to support the District Development objectives in Dowa to reduce environmental degradation through the replanting of trees in the district.
One Acre Fund in Dowa district is supporting Government initiatives on tree planting and reforestation. One Acre Fund recruits Nursery Managers as volunteers from the community to raise seedlings in the nursery, and farmers interested in raising trees get registered and receive seedlings to plant for free.
The organization said the tree program in Malawi is focusing on tree seedling distribution to farmers using a community nursery model where nurseries are established, and Nursery Managers are selected within the local community in the areas of operation.
Presenting the 2025/26 season progress report to the District Executive Committee (DEC) in Dowa, One Acre Fund’s Compliance Coordinator Thandiwe Ngwira Selemani said that in the just-ended season, a total of 151 nurseries from Chibvala, Nachisaka, Mvera, and Nalunga EPAs were distributed, with 1,655,589 tree seedlings for planting in the district.
Selemani said the tree program was introduced to better support and empower farmers to grow and plant trees as a long – term investment while also restoring local environments through agroforestry in the district.
She said the program has the long – term objective of providing additional impact that will support poverty reduction among rural households by adding new business interventions such as high – value timber species trees or other products and services for the program portfolio in the next 10 years.
The Compliance Coordinator said the short – term objective of the program is to distribute over 120 million high – quality tree seedlings to over 2 million farmers across Malawi with a 65 percent survival rate by 2030.
She said the program has registered successes in the district such as excellent coordination with the District Forestry Office and EPA staff, the majority of nurseries had commitment from the community, capacity building of Nursery Managers, and job creation, among others.
However, Selemani said the program has met some challenges in the course of implementation such as misunderstandings over nursery timelines and land use, low commitment from some Nursery Managers in urban – like areas, weak local support of nursery activities, seed sourcing and quality, and late deliveries of polythene tubes from suppliers.
Selemani said in the new season, the program is targeting to reach out to 2,880 hectares land cover for 80, 000 farmers with 3,200,000 tree seedlings and each farmer will be distributed with 25 seedlings.
“The program has also expanded to other new EPAs such as Bowe, Chisepo, Nambuma, and Madisi with a total of 349,110 tree seedlings to be distributed,” she said.
In his remarks, Dowa Civil Society Organizations Network Chairperson Maxwell Kadutsa, called on partners implementing Agriculture interventions to support the program to achieve its planned objectives in the district.
Kadutsa advised One Acre Fund to continue sharing progress of the program to enhance cooperation, transparency and accountability in the district.
One Acre Fund is implementing the program alongside its stakeholders such as Forestry Research Institute of Malawi (FRIM), District Forestry Office, Village Natural Resources Management Committee, Land Resource, and Polypack, among others.
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