West Sepik targets more trees

By DOROTHY MARK
WEST Sepik will be the focus of the Government if it is to plant 800,000 trees by 2050, forestry officer Jim Silu says.
He said the province had land groups interested in developing more than 300,000 cubic metres of trees in Amana Block Five and Block Six.
He said their only problem was to pay for ILG applications which would cost them around K5000 which the PNG Forestry Authority (PNGFA) could pay.
Manager Acquisition Forest Policy and Planning Directorate Joseph Badi said existing associations had already earned money from their timber and the department could consider new ones.
A Momase regional workshop discussed ways to plant more trees by 2050 and convince landowners to give up their land. The aim is to plant 800,000 trees by 2050.
PNGFA’s acting director forest development and management Luke Nakandio said West Sepik was the biggest area the department was looking at.
One of the things discussed was to plant another cash crop along with timber trees so that landowners would benefit from them while they waited for the trees to mature.