Bamenda Kids Use Plastic Bottles as Alternative Nursery Container

By Ndimuh B. Shancho

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Within the framework of the 2022 Ecokids Programme jointly implemented by Voice of Nature (VoNat) and Meg Wah with support from Earth Rising Foundation,  over 50 kids and young adults in Bamenda were provided experiential training on the development of tree nurseries for the restoration of degraded landscapes and  waterways in Bamenda using plastic bottles.  The youngsters from the Bamenda 1, 2 and 3 Council areas cleaned up over 1000 litres of plastic bottles from the environment. They were guided to use the plastic bottles to pot indigenous tree species and establish a tree nursery at the North West Regional Delegation of the Ministry of Environment Protection of Nature and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED-NW).

The youngsters were provided with the seeds of sunflower and soursop to leverage the lessons learnt and establish individual nurseries in their homes using plastic bottles from the street.  Over 20 out of the 50 participating kids established individual nurseries of plump, avocado, mango, sun flower, soursop etc.

In order to ensure the effective growth and survival of the trees at the nursery, the children were taken through experiential sessions on nursery management.  The over 50 youngsters were guided to remove weeds from the indigenous tree nursery established, while receiving lectures on the different tree species at the nursery and best nursery management techniques. They were implored to use the lessons learnt to better manage their individual nurseries.

Three months after the establishment of the central nursery and individual nurseries, the kids in Bamenda were engaged in monitoring and collecting vital statistics about the over four indigenous tree species. “We noticed that callistemon’s average height increased from 15 to 25 centimeters, and pronus from 26 to 32 about 2 months after. This gave us a monthly average growth rate of 5cm for callitamon and 3cm for pronus,” the kids said, shortly after the data collection session. The tree nursery establishment and management for degraded watersheds and landscapes restoration in Bamenda was carried out with the technical assistance of MINEPDED-NW.