Transplanting seedling has a metaphoric significance with “hope and optimism” as anybody who puts the roots of young plants in a fertile soil, the individual is sure that, after a score of years, he/she stands in the shade of the trees and tastes their sweet fruits.
A story of an old man and a smartly dressed young man may leave us with some inspirations and moral lessons:Once up on a time an old man was planting young mango trees. And a young and smartly dressed passerby, looking what the old man was doing, asked him of his age.
The old man replied, “Maybe sixty or seventy”. And young man continued asking as to how long the old man thinks he will be living. No sooner, the old man replied: “God knows that but a few years.”
And the young man pitied the old man for his “foolishness” of planting trees that he may not enjoy its sweet fruits. But the old understood why the young man pitied him and kindly told the young man that all the fruits he has been enjoying in his life are taken from trees which his predecessors planted. Hence, “it is my turn to plant trees to my successors as well.”
The story may come in various versions. But the message is clear and succinct. Decades ago, the forestation cover of Ethiopia was nearly 40 percent as various sources indicated. But deforestation over the subsequent decades thins the forest cover as low as three percent. The national reforestation program taken place in the 70’s helped a lot in covering most ragged lands with various trees.
The forest cover of the country has also increased significantly following the reforestation campaign that has involved many citizens since the turn of the Ethiopian millennium. Now Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed has launched a program to transplant four billion tree seedlings over the coming major rainy season of the country. The young leader and over 60 percent of the youth population of the country will surely make this plan true and see the results in the medium term, in five to ten years of time.
On Tuesday, members of the diplomatic community and heads of international organizations who were briefed on progress of national political and economic program joined the Prime Minister on the launching of the National Greening Program.
The diplomatic community has already started involving in the program and must continue not only transplanting the seedlings this season but also in caring the young plant in other seasons to ensure the seedlings’ survival. As the old man has said the young plants they nurse today will serve as their remembrance.
The big trees that greens the vast land in front of UN Economic Commission for Africa, what is now called, Africa Park, are legacies of African heads of state and governments. The current program will help the diplomatic community to leave their legacies too.
Previously, such programs were not carried out in an organized fashion. The problem was, as experts already concluded, the transplanting program had not taken agro-climatic factor into consideration. Nowadays, pertinent bodies seem to have taken good lessons. The seedlings transplantation should be in a way that considers the agro climatic factor and the socio-economic needs and interests of the public as well.
Trees can have bigger metaphor to Ethiopians—as social significance. It is around trees that elders sit for arbitration. The economic significance is also beyond doubts.
Above and beyond, now the country is in an era of an all-round reform which itself could be compared with transplanting a young tree. It needs care until this young effort sends roots and grows shoots. And the “hope and optimism” is also still there. It needs time, a day to day care and protection. As nobody, expects a young plant to bear sweet fruits overnight, the reform is also nothing less than this.
The diplomatic community in general and the citizenries in particular ought to, therefore, press ahead in further joining the efforts of transplanting the seedlings—of the trees and the reform.
The Ethiopian Herald, May 31/2019B
