Daily Times

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s Global Environment Facility (GEF) announced to plant 20 million (m) saplings of Moringa plant in cities, towns, major highways and villages in Sindh.

“We have established nurseries in different cities and, by the end of November, all 20 million plants will be read to be given to communities for plantation,” said UNDP, GEF’s National Program Manager Masood Ahmed Lohar. Lohar said that Pakistan was one of the victims of climate change and Sindh especially suffered because of it. He said that UNDP decided to plant Morinaga trees on mass scale in order to mitigate the effects of climate change and increase the province’s forest cover.

It is worth mentioning that the Morinaga specie is known for its health benefits. Lohar said, “Beside combating climate change and increasing the forest cover, this tree will also help people overcome food insecurity, as Moringa is considered a food tree. Moreover, the leaves, bark, flowers, fruit, seeds, and root of this plant are used to make medicines which treat anemia, arthritis,joint pain, asthma, cancer, diabetes, constipation, diarrhea, epilepsy and so many other diseases,” explained Lohar.

Global Environment Facility (GEF) has established nurseries at Keenjhar Lake in Thatta district, Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan, Jhirk town in Thatta, Hyderabad, Makli, Sujawal and Jamshoro to kick-start this plantation campaign. “We have almost one million samplings which are ready and soon 20 million sampling will be ready,” Lohar told Daily Times.

While explaining why the Moringa specie had been selected for mass plantation, Lohar said that not only was Morinaga a medicinal plant, it was also fast growing. “Moreover, the plant also requires less water. We selected a specie which could grow up to five to six feet despite scanty water because of the ongoing water crisis,” shared Lohar. “The Moringa is also loved by birds so we can easily maintain the bird population by planting it. It also attracts honey bees so people can obtain honey if they plant this specie,” he explained.

Besides planting the Moringa trees, GEF has also introduced Moringa leaf tablets for which a license has also been acquired from Drug Regularity Authority of Pakistan.

“We have 1 million (bn) bottles of 3 grams tablets,” Lohar told Daily Times.

Published in Daily Times, October 16^th 2018.