Expert Tasks rural dwellers on Tree Planting to Enhance Environmental Sustainability

The immediate past Managing Director of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Ltd, Dr. Chima Ibeneche, has tasked rural dwellers to prioritise planting trees to curb erosion and enhance environmental sustainability.

The call was made by the Ex-Director during the demonstration of the breadfruit (Ukwa) dehusking machine manufactured by the Faculty of Engineering, Imo State University, IMSU, Owerri, held at the school auditorium.

Speaking on a paper titled, “Enhancing Environmental Sustainability and Food Security in the Humid Tropics,” Ibeneche stressed that tree planting also helps in viable food production, and climate sustainability, as well as enhancing economic growth.

According to him, “Rainfalls or heavy downpours normally generate forceful floods, which denude the surface soils, often creating the devastating gully erosion in the South East region.

“The heavy downpours also leach the nutrients from the soil, leaving behind friable sandy soils, which are poor in organic matter.”

However, as a result of this denudation and associated leaching of soil nutrients, Ibeneche said, “Agriculture based on shallow-rooted plants quickly becomes unproductive after a few years of cultivation in the same location.

“trees have the potential to mitigate the challenges of the humid tropics. Trees normally have deep taproots and often also have extensive lateral roots. The lateral roots help stabilise the soil around the trees, reducing the erosive impact of tropical storms,” he said.

Trees help to reduce the release of captured carbon dioxide stored in soils, help to recover leached soil nutrients, and also reduce the denudation of the landscape in the humid tropics.

The use of tree crops for food production will enhance environmental and climate sustainability, and if the food production is local, it will contribute to the food security of the region.

He also said, it is also logical to assume that these benefits will be amplified in direct proportion to the increase of the use of trees for food production.

READ ALSO: Niger State flags off hybrid Shea tree planting campaign