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Tree Nursery in Ruaraka, Nairobi
Ranjani Dharmarajan, KENYA
After I attended the International Children’s Summit 2005 in Japan, I realized the importance of planting trees. I was the environment prefect of my school. When we wanted to plant trees we found that the saplings were very expensive. That’s when I decided to start a nursery.
Initially, I just thought of raising a few seedlings which I could plant later on along with my friends but eventually, I made a plan to raise 1000 seedlings. The first question which came to my mind was 'Where do I get the seeds?' I approached Kenya Forestry Seed Centre. I bought about 1000 seeds from here.
Next was to look for an appropriate place to plant them. Where I live there was no vacant area so I got help from my father. I planted the seeds in his office grounds, in Ruaraka, Nairobi. I planted about 400 seeds in the month of July, 2006. The names of the seeds are : Prinnas Africane, Markhomia Lulea, Corbia abyssinica, and Calodendrum Capense. All these are indigenous.
I regularly checked them. I was so happy when they started to grow. Now they have grown to about 10 inches. I have about 350 seedlings which I think will be ready to be planted by April 2007. When I thought of this project I knew nothing. When I started it I learnt a lot like where to get the seeds and how to plant them. This project gave me satisfaction of having done something for the environment.
I would like to collect more and more seeds of different variety, observe their growth patterns and make adjustments where necessary. Growing these seedlings gave me an opportunity to learn a lot of things like the names of many indigenous trees and I am, at present, having high hopes that by the next year they will be well developed so as to entertain my next project - planting them!
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