Seeds for schoolchildren

Seeds and cuttings of six native species of tree were distributed yesterday to representatives of over 50 government, Church and private schools.

The seeds were collected by the Department of Agriculture as part of the Grow a Tree campaign organised by the School Arbor Committee, through the Ministry for Rural Affairs and Environment.

The species donated were the Almond, African Tamarisk, the Carob tree, Aleppo Pine, Dwarf Fan palm and the rare White Willow. The latter species is so rare that there is only one original tree left in the wild.

The School Arbor Committee is made up of representatives of the Department of Agriculture, the Education Department and the Malta Union of Teachers.

The committee has been running for two decades now and its aim is to instill a love of nature among schoolchildren.

The children grow the trees in their classrooms. The trees are then collected at the end of the school year by the Department of Agriculture which safeguards them until the following January, when a big tree planting effort is carried out by the children themselves on Arbor day, January 16.