Kenya and Jica have signed a deal to boost tree-growing, climate resilience and livelihoods in arid regions through support for farmers and high-value species.
The agreement was signed last week between the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) during a ceremony attended by Forestry PS Gitonga Mugambi, Forest Development Secretary George Tarus and senior Jica officials led by Global Environment director Kurimoto Masaru.
The initiative targets Kenya's arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs), which cover about 80 per cent of the country's land mass and are characterised by erratic rainfall, high temperatures, bare land and shifting sand dunes.
Mugambi said the agreement reaffirmed the long-standing partnership between Kenya and Japan in advancing sustainable forest management and ecosystem restoration.
He said the Sustainable Forest Management and Climate Change Response Project, supported by Jica, had strengthened forest governance, built institutional and technical capacity, promoted community participation in forest management and advanced landscape restoration efforts across the country.
“Kenya and Jica have collaborated in the forestry sector for more than 40 years, delivering transformative programmes that have enhanced sustainable forest management, biodiversity conservation and environmental sustainability,” Mugambi said.
Officials said the agreement would strengthen collaboration in addressing environmental challenges, enhancing climate resilience and building capacity for tree improvement.
Tarus said the MoU was informed by the growing need to address the environmental, social and economic challenges facing communities in ASAL areas.
“Our journey with Jica has kept evolving and getting strengthened over the years. We have been implementing a number of programmes within the forest sector, especially targeting arid and semi-arid regions of the country,” Tarus said.
He said the agreement would support tree-growing initiatives in selected ASAL counties as part of efforts to reverse environmental degradation and improve livelihoods.
“We are yet to select the two counties, but the programme will initially target two ASAL counties. We hope that when the project comes to fruition, it will cover more counties within our arid regions,” he said.
Tarus said the project would focus on building the capacity of smallholder farmers through extension services and technical support to enable them to adopt tree-growing as a commercial venture and a climate adaptation strategy.
“We expect to undertake active extension services and farmer support so they are able to take up tree-growing as an enterprise both for economic reasons and to build climate resilience,” he said.
Another key component of the project will be enhancing the production of high-quality seeds for tree species suited to dry areas.
Tarus said the government had identified high-value species such as Melia, Indian sandalwood and Boswellia, which have significant economic potential.
“Those are some of the species that now we want to see high-quality production of their seeds,” he said.
The project will also support counties, institutions and farmers to produce adequate seedlings for commercialisation.
Tarus said project development would now proceed following the signing of the MoU, with implementation expected to begin around April next year.
The programme is expected to run for three and a half years.
