5 lakh native oak tree saplings planted at Laii village in Manipur

DIMAPUR — In a significant stride towards creating employment opportunities besides environmental sustainability and mitigating climate change, The Entrepreneurs Associates (tEA) in collaboration with Laii community planted 500,000 (5 lakh) native oak trees at Laii, a Poumai village in Senapati District, Manipur, in two phases.

The tree plantation drive at Laii village was initiated with an aim to regenerate wasteland as well as promote sustainable wealth and environment through the planting of oak trees, updated Keletsino Mejura, Documentation Associate of tEA on Friday.

The target of planting 5 lakh oak tree saplings was achieved in two phases, the first of which commenced on January 15 this year and the second completed on Friday. 

About 400 people representing 171 households of the Kacchepomai Khel in Laii village took part in the plantation drive during the first phase, for which the tEA provided 5kg of Oaknuts to each households and an additional 20kg to be distributed to absentees.

“In the second phase, the Research and Development (R&D) wing of tEA visited the area on February 15 to expand the territorial reach and attain 100 acres of land from Kacchepomai Khel,” said the update, adding that the project was initially proposed to be implemented on 83 acres of wasteland provided by the village members.

“Alongside continuing the plantation, the R&D team utilized GPS coordinates to capture the essence of the project through Polygon mapping, ensuring clarity and producing authentic data,” it continued.

The tree plantation drive was taken up under tEA’s flagship programme “Trees for Wealth (TfW)”, which aims to plant 3 billion trees, comprising 2 billion non-fruit trees and 1 billion fruit trees. Till date, it has planted 1.2 million trees, including 700,000 fruit trees and 500,000 non-fruit trees across Nagaland and Manipur, said the update.