Trees are often the first victim’s of Bengaluru’s march towards increased urbanisation. To encourage tree plantation and reduce their rate of depletion, SayTrees, a city-based NGO, is organising a seed ball creation campaign on June 3 as part of World Environment Day celebrations.
The campaign will see around 1,000 volunteers coming together to create one lakh seed balls, which they will throw in open spaces on the outskirts of the city. “We have been planting saplings in the city and its outskirts. However, we wanted to do something different this time. For large-scale plantation and in areas that cannot be easily accessed, seed balls are the best options. Volunteers will meet at Vabasandra lake in Bommasandra to make seed balls, which will be dried for 15 to 20 days,” said Durgesh Agrahari, head of projects, SayTrees.
While there are debates on the germination rate of the seeds in these balls, Mr. Agrahari said even if only 25% of them germinate, it would mean that they would have planted 25,000 trees. “Also we have selected seeds that are of good quality and native to the region, such as neem, jamoon, muthuga, and honge,” he said.
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The NGO has also invited schools in the city to participate in the event. “Representatives from schools can attend the event and learn seed ball creation. We will then be providing them kits, including seeds, soil and cow dung, that can be used by students to create more seed balls in their schools,” he added.