BLIDA DISTRICT, ALGERIA (VISNEWS - MOHAMMED MENDIL)


GV Large numbers of workers walking to forestry site (3 shots)
SV Workers picking up shovels and dispersing to work areas (2 shots)
SV Young tree being plant by worker
GV & SV Workers dig hole in ground and plant tree (2 shots)
GV Workers digging holes and planting saplings (2 shots)
CU PULL BACK TO GV Planted sapling in ground

Background: INTRODUCTION: A comprehensive afforestation campaign began in Algerian on Friday (11 December), primarily in a bid to contain a serious erosion problem. The work is being carried out mostly by volunteer under the supervision of the Forestry and Agriculture Ministries.

SYNOPSIS: Voluntary work is now a major official policy platform of the government and this tree-planting work will last until mid-March, 1982. The programme is concentrated on difficult agricultural areas in the Blida and Zeralda regions -- land which is suitable for forests but little else. The result should stop serious soil erosion and at the same time, create a product with a market value in the future.

In Blida and Zeralda alone, the programme involves the planting of some 14-thousand trees, mostly firs and Cyprus pine. Not all the plan is conceived in practical terms. Many trees are to be established in and around Algiers and most towns, small and large, to beauty the environment.

Green belts in towns are to be complemented with avenues of trees along major roads. It's all the beginning of a national campaign which its governmental backers believe has both environmental and practical advantages, even down to providing future employment for gardeners. Also included in the programme are the needs of orchardists, and a steady improvement in fruit yields.
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