Generally speaking in the tropics, to plant a tree costs (outside of the land) about 1 dollar for the seedling (not in bulk, that is much cheaper) and 3 dollars to prep the land - but this is removing brush, fixing fences, making roads for access. After that, it is about 1 dollar a tree per year for care, roughly. This includes cleaning around the tree.
If you have an existing plantation, like we do, to plant a new tree is... nothing. The natural ones self generate. You would have to chop them down. We do thin them out.
We do plant trees - all the time. We used to do it for others, as an investment. We have about 900 acres, but there are still corners where we can wedge in a few thousand I am sure, if they aren't for harvest (this would be near streams, rivers, springs, etc)
What kind of trees are you thinking of - just food forest types?
We live in the tropics, we have been here for 7.5 years or so, with business here for about 10 years. I plant trees just about every day, probably 10 to 100 a week, easily, just myself. Right now, I am planting a lot of cacao (think chocolate).
Our long term plan (which is well on its way) is to convert all the plantations into
sustainable forest, which include a mix of timber trees and food trees.
Our
project is family owned, but we have a small community which grows food together, as well as works for us. Some live on the plantations (we have something like eight homes) but others live on their own properties and come to work.
