Plant Organic Fruit Trees with African Farmers

HAF selling carbon offsets at COP 22 from trees planted at schools

At COP 22 on November 17th, the  Foundation will host a Carbon Auction based on the 1.2 million organic fruit tree seeds we planted with Partners from all sectors in twelve nurseries located in five provinces of the Morocco.  

We established an organic enterprise that grows nurseries, strengthens cooperatives, certifies organic, and generates revenue especially for investments in human development. We achieved this for walnuts and almonds in the Commune of Toubkal, and we will also auction at COP their organic product.

We have a unique partnership with the Education Delegation of Ifrane where they lend land near schools in order for communities to grow nurseries, launching organic agriculture actions and carbon offset marketing.

Our partnership with the Moroccan Jewish Community is unique (and a CGI commitment).  The Community is now lending land nearby seven of their 600 sacred burial sites of the saints (in Al Haouz, Azilal, and Ourzazate), and we planted on two of the plots.

The High Commission of Waters and Forests lends land to HAF for organic community nurseries.  We grow from walnut and almond seeds in Tadmamt of Al Haouz, and we have regional draft agreements with Beni Mellal (for walnuts with the Ait M’hamed’s women’s association) and for Ouezzane, to expand cultivation and add value of the declining eleven Moroccan indigenous varieties of fig.

We deeply appreciate that the Center for Safeguarding Children in Oujda committed land for the project that will benefit the region and build highly employable skill of its youth residents.  The universities of Al Akhwayn (where we currently grow an almond nursery), Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah in Fez, and the Faculty of Law, Economics, and Social Science in Mohammedia have dedicated nursery land.

In Figuig, we partner to expand the cultivation of Aziza date trees.  In Boujdour province, where a community tree nursery does not exist, we have a partnership with the Nasar school to plant a nursery for the region. In Essaouira, we have a partnership with the school of Smimou for an Argan nursery.

On the 16th of January 2017 at noon, we will together plant trees--transplanted from our existing nurseries--at all the mentioned locations, with schools and communities.

Hundreds of places, including outside Morocco, may join this planting moment, which we are making an annual event on the third Monday of January.  This coincides with Martin Luther King Day of volunteerism and an early start to planting in the season.  Your Majesty, our hearts would know joy to plant beside you.

We are though without means to grow new or expand nurseries in these places, even as agreements are in place, and people are ready to work so hard.

Links:

• http://www.highatlasfoundation.org

As we find our way coming out of Ramadan and Aïd Mubarak celebrations, we are starting to prepare for planting season 2017. One of the project’s focus is the building of a community-managed tree and medicinal herb nursery in Tadmamt of the Asni Commune of the Al Haouz Province, a total of 6,000 people in 30 villages also effecting Asni, Oukaimeden, and Ourika. This beautiful region of villages sits on the northern side of Morocco’s oldest nature protected area, the Toubkal National Forest; a vibrant area of pasturelands for goat and sheep herds and a large plethora of indigenous species of vegetation.

This project of building fruit tree and medicinal herb nurseries was designed to include the community and to ensure its lifelong success and viability to the individuals profiting from it. The trees and herbs in question do not need the use of pesticides, they have a high market value, and the people maintaining them already possess the skills to maintain and market the fruit produced.

To paint a picture of the social context, the villages of the High Atlas region rank among the poorest in all Morocco. The lack of, to little, infrastructure has left communities with little presence of government institutions and services in the area. And eighty-five percent of rural households earn less than the national average and nearly eighty percent of rural economies in Morocco are supported by agricultural production. Projects like these diversify the rural economy, create employment, and help diversify diets by contributing to public health initiatives from the consumption of fruit.

Generous contributions to this unique project ensure key institutions that will support their development, culminate relationships among the local populations, and provide work across seasons. Thank you to all supporters of this project. We have made significant progress and we are excited of what is to come. Stay tuned! And until next time.