Tree Talk, November 2003

With this Tree Talk, 15,000 schools will receive free moringa seeds. Other readers are welcome to buy seed from the National Tree Seed Centre, PO Box 23889, Kampala: Tel: 286049

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Teachers, care for your moringa seedlings in the long holidays. If you cannot, then give them to pupils to plant at home. The pupils can then bring in cuttings or seeds for the school in 2004!

Moringa: miracle tree tre Some schools provide a midday meal. You can use moringa leaves as a sauce or add them to beans.

Moringa is a chance to improve feeding in your school! We are sure that you have heard of this exciting tree. People are talking about it. Moringa is a woody shrub with many uses. All its parts are useful: the leaves, flowers, roots, bark, stem, seeds and fruits. We are sending you a packet of 40 moringa seeds. Moringa is as easy to germinate as a bean. You should have no problems and get many benefits! BETTER FEEDING Some people call moringa the vegetable tree! Moringa leaves make a delicious leafy sauce like dodo or nakati. The leaves are rich in protein, vitamin A and C, and iron.

You can also add powdered moringa leaves to porridge. This makes it much more nutritious. A GREENER SCHOOL Moringa grows so fast. When it is well watered, it can grow to five metres in one year. With moringa you quickly get small trees. This will make your school greener and cooler. You can enjoy the shade. Moringa is a tough plant that resists drought. HELP FOR YOUR SCHOOL GARDEN Plant moringa around your school garden. It is a nice windbreak and will help the garden to retain moisture. Even better, moringa can help your garden to be more fertile! It is not nitrogen-fixing. But you can cut the leaves and young branches and use them as a green manure. DON'T WASTE THIS CHANCE Make sure that your school plants these seeds and grows moringa!

Rebecca Namusisi, 13, P5, harvests moringa leaves at Bishop East PS, Mukono

Tree Talk helps schools to grow trees All over Uganda,Tree Talk trees are doing well. • providing shade • marking boundaries • making schools smart and lovely.

Bulighisa PS, Kasese: star school wins T shirts This is where our eucalyptus has reached. We pupils and teachers thank Tree Talk and the President for introducing trees in schools. Bulighisa PS, Kasese

Soon they will provide poles and fuelwood. If your school has not started growing trees, start now! What's your excuse? No excuse! There's no excuse for not growing trees!

Buckley HS, Iganga: star tree growers win T shirts! Thanks to Tree Talk for the constant supply of seeds. We now have 20 musizi and 50 eucalyptus and podo. Florence Mutyabule, Headmistress

2 Tree Talk, November 2003

Moringa leaves contain a lot of protein. They are a good feed for pigs, cattle, and poultry. Mix the leaves with grass or another source of fibre. Experts can explain how much moringa to give. Animals which have a good source of protein produce more milk and meat.

Plant growth The juice of fresh moringa leaves can be sprayed onto crops. The juice contains a growth hormone that boosts plant growth. In Nicaragua, moringa hormone increased

maize yields from 60 to 130 sacks per hectare.

Moringa for industry Moringa seeds are used for making cooking oil, perfumes and lubricants. Its stem can be used for making paper.

Moringa pods You can cook and eat the young pod when it is still green. It is called a drumstick. Some trees produce 50 to 70 kg of pods a year! These can be sold, eaten, or used to germinate more seedlings.

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Animal feeds

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Moringa flowers: bees love the nectar and make honey. The flowers also make a nice tea.

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More about moringa

In India people love to cook and eat the whole pod. The pods are even tinned for sale.

Prepare a seedbed before planting. Plant the seeds two cm deep in the soil. Keep the soil moist. Within one to two weeks, seeds will germinate. Transplant the seedlings into pots or kavera. Keep them in the nursery bed in their pots for two weeks before planting in the gardens. The seedlings can reach 5 meters in one season.

Cuttings Take the cutting from mature branches of the tree. The cuttings should be about 15 to 20 cm long. Keep them for three days under a shade, either in the nursery or directly in the field. After that they are ready for planting. Plant in a well prepared garden. If you want a whole field of moringa, plant them every 3 by 3m.

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You can grow moringa from seed or cuttings. It is easy. But always protect young trees from animals. Seeds Love and care Always weed, water and protect your trees from livestock. Although hardy and fast growing, moringa grows best with love and care. Moringa does not do well in wetlands or cold places.

Remember to prune To prune means to trim a tree or bush. When you cut branches, you encourage new ones to grow. Always prune your moringa. Aim to keep the trees to a height of 1-1.5 meters. This will give you many fresh new leaves to eat. Moringa trees that are left to overgrow can become brittle and dry. A brittle tree breaks easily. Moringa can be used for firewood but is too weak for building.

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Growing moringa

Pupils of Arya PS, Kampala, with moringa seedlings. "Moringa is a good tree. We eat its leaves for health." Arya PS also has an orchard of fruit trees and its own nursery. Well done!

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"At Mukole PS, Kyenjojo, we are happy that the President has sent us eucalyptus seeds. We will grow a school forest for poles, timber and firewood. We are guided by our teacher, G Mumbere."

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schools in 10 districts. It found schools spending between 50,000 and 200,000/= a term on fuel wood. That's a lot of money!

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Every school needs fuel. How else will you cook the midday porridge or meal? In June Tree Talk visited 464

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Does your school grow trees? There is no money for fuelwood under UPE. Parents already struggle to pay for food. They cannot pay for fuelwood.

In August Farm Talk sent calliandra seed to schools. Farm Talk is a sister to Tree Talk. They work together.

Tree Talk also found that many schools ask pupils and students to bring sticks. But this damages our forests and tree cover. That is risky!

Calliandra is an exciting agroforestry tree. It fixes nitrogen into soil and stops soil from eroding in hilly places like Kabale. It provides green manure. It also provides fodder for livestock.

Most schools have land for both school gardens and woodlots. So let us take action. We can have good school gardens to help feeding. We can grow woodlots like the President requested. There is no excuse for not growing trees! "UWESO PS, Kiboga, has responded to the President's call. Here teachers D Kabuye and E Kayirigi guide pupils to make a nursery bed. We have planted eucalyptus."

Did your calliandra seeds germininate? Write and tell us at PO Box 22366, K'la. Moringa is also a wonderful agroforestry tree. Its branches can be easily trimmed to regulate shade. Its open crown allows plenty of sunlight to reach crops. It is very good when grown with vegetables that need a bit of shading. Does your school practice agroforestry. That is a sign of a great school garden!

Most pupils do not eat a midday meal. Many do not eat breakfast. In many schools pupils doze in the afternoon. They are so hungry they cannot learn.

The situation is even worse for children with HIV and for orphans who eat very little at home. That is why school gardens with moringa trees are such an exciting idea. That is why midday meals enriched with moringa are a very exciting idea. Moringa can solve many of our problems. It is rich in iron, calcium and vitamins A, and C. It also contains protein. Many Ugandan children lack iron in their blood. Their diet is poor in meat and green leafy vegetables. Lack of iron gives them anaemia or weak blood. They are tired all the time and struggle to concentrate at school.

A child who lacks vitamin A will have problems with seeing at night. He or she is also very vulnerable to sickness and does not heal well from wounds. Pupils and teachers, you can make your school healthier with moringa. A serving of moringa leaves can give a young child almost all the calcium, iron and vitamin A needed for one day.

Moringa is very rich in iron, calcium and vitamins A and C. School gardens with moringa are an exciting idea. Selling moringa can also be an income earner for young people!

Cooking moringa You can cook moringa in many ways. Young leaves can be fried or boiled and served as greens or added to groundnuts, beans or meat. Do not overboil the leaves in a lot of water. This will waste the vitamins.

Mrs O Musoke farms in Mukono. She intercrops moringa with her crops. Her harvests have become bigger and she gets income from selling moringa leaves. Her children eat the moringa leaves and have become more healthy.

Tree Talk, November 2003

Many pupils also lack vitamin A. That is why vitamin A was given during the measles immunisation campaign in October.

When fried with Blue Band, moringa flowers taste like mushrooms. Flower can also be cooked with other greens. The soft pods are fried or boiled and eaten like French beans. The mature fresh seeds are removed from the pods and prepared just like beans or cowpeas. When fried, the fresh seeds taste like groundnuts. Some people like to soak the flowers in hot water for five minutes and then add sugar. This makes a nice drink. Some people say that this mixture can make you feel better when you have a cold or flu. People do not eat the dried seeds.

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Hunger is a very big problem in our schools.

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Moringa for healthy feeding

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Moringa cleans water Here is a final amazing fact about our miracle tree. Its seeds can purify water! Something in the seed causes solid matter suspended in water to join together. The solid matter then gets heavy and falls to the bottom of the container. When this solid matter is removed, many germs are also removed.

How to do it! Get dried seeds and remove the coat. Now you have white cotyledons. Crush the cotyledons into powder. Mix 2 teaspoons of the powder with a cup of clean water. Q Transfer the water and powder mixture into a bottle. Shake it for five minutes to make a paste. Q Pour the paste through a cloth strainer into the 20 litres of water to be purified. Q Stir the water rapidly for 2 minutes, then stir slowly for 1015 minutes. Leave the water to settle for at least 1 hour as the impurities settle. Q Now filter the water into a storage container. About 90-99 % of impurities are removed by this method! Q Boil the water to kill any germs remaining. Q

Q

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Moringa powder is nutritious, add to porridge

Dry the leaves in the shade. This conserves nutrients, especially vitamin A.

Moringa powder is easy to make and easy to store. It is also easy to use. Moringa powder can easily be mixed into porridge. Porridge is the most common midday food at school. Porridge does not contain all the nutrients we need to stay strong

and healthy. Adding moringa powder makes it a much more valuable meal. You can get powder from the roots or the leaves. To make powder, always dry the leaves or roots in the shade. This prevents the loss of vitamins. Moringa leaves dry easily. Make the moringa powder by pounding the dried materials in a mortar or grinding on a grinding stone. Moringa powder can even be mixed into drinks, sauces or any other food.

Quiz! MY FAVOURITE TREE Tree Talk, PO Box 22366 Kampala HERE IS A QUIZ FOR TREE TALKERS. WE HAVE 25 TSHIRTS FOR YOU!

Pound the dried roots or leaves.

Store the powder in clean containers.

Mix it into porridge.

Write about a tree near your home that you like. Why do you like it? Is it good? Beautiful? Does it give you things? DRAW A PICTURE OF THE TREE, ITS LEAF AND TELL US ITS LOCAL NAME. Remember, there is no "correct" answer. We are looking for answers that are truthful and original.

4 Tree Talk, November 2003

Our big trees and forests

Write & tell us! The first 50 letters WIN T-shirts.

Our forests supply water to our rivers. They stop our mountains from eroding. They give us medicines and twine. Let us plant our own trees to keep our forests safe.

One year ago the President asked all schools to grow woodlots. And Tree Talk sent you eucalyptus seed. Did you start a woodlot? If you did, how tall are your trees? How many survived? If you didn't grow it, why not? Is wood plentiful in your place or is there another reason? In 2004 you will get another chance: Tree Talk will send more eucalyptus. Let's get serious!

Write to Tree Talk, PO Box 22366, Kampala.

In 2004 Farm Talk will be looking for the best school gardens and the best teachers of agriculture. There will be three winners per district. Winning schools will receive cash prizes. Winning teachers will travel to a residential workshop on teaching agriculture. So start thinking: what makes a great school garden? What makes a great teacher of agriculture? We are looking for you!

Thank you Tree Talk. We have a serious tree-planting program. Trees are living laboratories for learning. Ochieng F, H/ M, Rock View PS, Tororo ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Happy with the eucalyptus seed. With pupils are headteachers L Kangaho and J Mubangizi, Young Talk club patron, Itojo Progressive Day and Boarding PS, Ntungamo

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Let's plant more trees in the New Year, say Tree Talk club members of Kaliro Vocational SS

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Be a winner in 2004!

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Letters and photos from Tree Talkers Bishop N. Okille of Bukedi Diocese planting a tree in Orago PS, Tororo.

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Nakaweesa B and Robert of Bukhari Islamic PS, Kiboga, watering their mahogany tree.

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Pupils of Acholi PS, Yumbe, make a boundary to protect their teak forest from fire. This is part of their agriculture lesson.

TREE TALK is a joint venture of the organisations below. Funded by DFID and produced by Straight Talk Foundation: EDITOR: C Watson WRITERS: S Walaita, PS Amunau, DESIGN: MeB. Kalanzi, G.b Mukasa PHOTOGRAPHER: G Awekofua ILLUSTRATORS: J Mugisha PRINTER: The New Vision Technical Reviewers:: Gaster Kiyingi, Warrick Thomson

This lusambya germinated from Tree Talk seed in April 2003. Well, done, Bishop East PS, Mukono!

Forestry Inspection Division, Baumann Hse, Parliament Avenue, Kampala Tel: 340684/250311 Fax: 340683.

Uganda National Tree Seed Centre, PO Box 23889 Kampala Tel: 286049

Straight Talk Foundation, 45 Bukoto St. Kamwokya, PO Box 22366, Kampala Tel. 543025/542884