The City of Kigali said that 285, 805 fruit trees will be planted in schools so as to boost the school feeding programme.

Pudence Rubingisa, The Mayor of the City of Kigali, said that the tree planting challenge, which was launched in Gasabo district on November 21, also requires interventions from partners.

He said that in total, 400,000 trees will be planted including 66, 469 ornamental trees and 47,705 forest trees in the 2022/23 fiscal year.

"We want to plant them on land suitable for tree planting. We have a focus on fruit trees to be able to reduce malnutrition and boost the school feeding programme. Every sector must work with schools so that they all increase fruit trees,” he said.

The trees to be planted include avocado, mango, orange and lemon fruit trees.

He said that fruit trees have also to be maximised at churches, and IDP Model villages among other areas.

"We will identify sectors that will perform well in terms of increasing fruit trees. It is a spirit of competition to help meet the target,” he said.

Rwanda is set to plant more than 36 million trees under the current tree planting season.

During this year’s tree planting season, a total of 26,227,930 agroforestry seedlings, 7,609,374 classic forest seedlings, 1,601,931 fruit trees and 1,014,400 bamboo trees will be planted.

In the City of Kigali, 20 hectares of forest will be rehabilitated while 44,660 native tree seedlings and 191,714 fruit trees will be planted in the current planting season.

"The City is committed to green growth and trees are part of investments to ensure a green city,” said Rubingisa.

The move is dedicated to maintaining existing forests and increasing community involvement and ownership in forest restoration.