Twenty-one acres surrounding Thiba Dam construction site is now covered with a variety of indigenous tree species.
This was made possible by a group of environmentalists who helped plant the trees that will act as a catchment area for the dam. The drivers of the exercise said the responsibility of tending to the trees will be assigned to residents, who will also be allowed to grow subsistent crops on the land until the trees form a canopy.
The sponsors are optimistic that applying the shamba system model will increase the survival of over 95 per cent of the seedlings.
“The National Irrigation Authority, which manages this site, granted us permission to come plant tree seedlings as a lot of this land was left bare after it was recovered from its former owners.
"We saw it worth to partner with various stakeholders to plant 10,000 tree seedlings in areas that were left as buffer zones,” Green Space patron Wachira Kibanya said.
They deployed residents, especially youths who were left out of the government's Kazi Mtaani programme, to carry out phase one of the exercise.
They target to plant 60,000 trees. Kibanya said the initiative will aid in the government's projection target of a 10 per cent forest cover by 2022 and cover the hollow ground created as a result of excavation.
“In Kirinyaga, we are not badly off as far as forest cover is concerned as we have surpassed the 10 per cent mark and 34 per cent coverage in the dam surroundings.
"However, if we need to restore the lost glory much work is needed and it is for that reason Kenyans should embrace the habit of tree-planting in areas left bare to strike a balance between the state of our development infrastructural projects and that of the environment," Kibanya said.
The Kenya Tea Development Agency, one of the partners, donated 5,000 tree seedlings. Head of corporate affairs Ndiga Kithae said tree planting is one of the agency’s core tasks as it heavily relies on wood as a source of fuel in its 69 factories.
“Our target every year is to plant a million trees and so we have nursery beds in each of our factories. Our pride is to partner with like-minded organisations to sustain our environment as we equally are heavy consumers of wood,” he said.
Monica Masibo, Kirinyaga county ecosystem conservator, praised residents for their willingness to green the county, adding that their efforts have so far paid off through a 24 per cent forest cover recovery. She said the trees will play a major role in preventing erosion of soil into the dam and mitigate climate change fallout.
Masibo said they have planted 200,000 trees in 272 acres of private conservancies and 22,000 indigenous seedlings in 54 acres of public forests during the current rainy season.
“We also have partnered with various players to nurture over 100,000 tree seedlings in our nursery beds, from where we sourced a part of the seedlings we are putting in the ground today,” she said.
Having trees around the dam will protect it and be a big boost to rice farming as the government plans to increase rice production by putting under irrigation an extra 20,000 acres of the expanded Mwea Irrigation Scheme.
Edited by F'Orieny
