- Plans are underway to grow 15 billion trees on 11 million hectares in every part of Kenya by 2030.
- The objective is to increase the national tree cover from the current 12 per cent to 30 per cent over that period.
The Kenya Forestry Research Institute has challenged farmers to grow trees on their farms saying the venture is lucrative.
Kefri CEO Joshua Cheboiwo said the knowledge gap that previously existed between farmers has since been done away with.
“Government forest is fixed and the only place we can get flexibility is in the farms. When the ban on logging came, the importance of farm forests was realised,” Cheboiwo said.
A 90-day ban on logging was initially imposed on February 24, 2018, on all public and community forests and later extended to November 24.
It was again extended for a year to facilitate sector reforms.
The ban restricted the extraction of timber from all public and community forests, a move that was meant to give KFS more time to fully implement new measures to protect forests.
This complicated matters for Kenya as the country had an annual wood deficit of approximately 1.3 million meter cubic by 2013 where it could only meet 70 per cent of its timber demand sustainably.
Cheboiwo said any tree grown for commercial purposes must however start with the selection of seeds and management procedures until it is harvested.
He said the special management procedures will enable farmers to get the optimum returns.
Cheboiwo said the venture in the highlands was emerging as an alternative livelihood.
“Trees are fetching very good prices. Big eucalyptus of 20 years in a very good area in Nandi can fetch between Sh45,000 to Sh60,000 per tree.”
The official said there was high demand for poles from 2013-2015, adding that a very good pole of eight to 10 years was going for between Sh6,000 and Sh7,000.
He said there are 65 treatment plants across the country with the capacity to produce over three million preserved woods for the transmission sector, fencing and many other purposes.
They are however underutilised.
Cheboiwo said some transmission poles are being imported from the neighbouring countries of Tanzania and Uganda as a result of trade agreements.
The cost-benefit analysis as well as the building of the capacity of farmers will soon allow them to venture into commercial business, he said.
He said Kefri is in the process of promoting sandalwood in the country.
“We have almost 44 farms experimenting on Indian sandalwood across the country from Laikipia, Kibwezi, Kerio Valley, and Baringo.”
Cheboiwo said there is a private sector player who has for the first time raised 200,000 seedlings to sell.
Kefri is also producing almost 5,000 seedlings per year which are given to farmers to demonstrate across the country.
The other portion is kept as seed stocks for future use by the institute.
Kefri is also promoting Melia Volkensii species in dry land as a good candidate for timber.
Cheboiwo said he took a keen interest in the cost-benefit analysis of forest investments while studying for his masters. “If farmers are to plant trees, these trees must be competitive land use.”
He looked at the various forest-based enterprises such as pulp wood, pole wood, industrial fuel, and charcoal among other products.
“I looked at revenue trees can earn as compared to maize, tea and other crops and we have published a book on the same. I also looked at highest value markets that exist for these products as well as market dynamics,” he said.
Cheboiwo has since 1999 been undertaking national market surveys across the country, tree products in the markets, the source, and prices among others.
He said Kenya has been importing between 36,000 to 52,000 metric tonnes of wood per year from Congo, with more imports expected from Uganda.
Kefri has also been monitoring charcoal from Sudan.
Agriculture CS is empowered by the Agriculture Act to institute rules that prohibit, regulate and control the clearing of land to promote soil and water conservation and prevent the destruction of vegetation.
The 2010 Constitution classifies forests into three categories—public, community, and private.
The public forests include all forests on public land; forestland lawfully held, used, or occupied by any state organ; forestland transferred to the state by way of sale, reversion, or surrender and forestland in respect of which no individual or community ownership can be established by any legal process.
The national and county governments are responsible for all forests on public land.
Besides these uses, forests help to stabilise the climate.
Forests regulate ecosystems, protect biodiversity, play an integral part in the carbon cycle, support livelihoods, and help drive sustainable growth.
An analysis of the demand and supply of wood products by the Environment Ministry in 2013 showed that Kenya had a wood supply potential of 31.4 million cubic metres. This is against a national demand of 41.7 million cubic metres and left a deficit of 10.3 million cubic metres.
The study showed that timber, poles, firewood, and charcoal supply stood at 7,363,414 cubic metres, 3,028,907 cubic metres, 13,654,022 cubic metres, and 7,358,717 cubic metres respectively.
The demand for timber, poles, firewood and charcoal stood at 5,262,624 cubic metres, 3, 1,409,482 cubic metres, 18,702,748 cubic metres and 16,325,810 cubic metres respectively.
Forecasts for a 20-year period indicated a 20.0 per cent increase in supply and a 21.6 per cent increase in demand by the year 2032 which signifies a gradually increasing deficit.
The government is in the process of enhancing tree and forest cover in the country.
Plans are underway to grow 15 billion trees on 11 million hectares in every part of Kenya by 2030.
The objective is to increase the national tree cover from the current 12 per cent to 30 per cent over that period.
Results generated from the recent National Forest Resources Assessment 2021 indicate that Kenya has 7,180,000.66ha of tree cover, representing 12.13 per cent of the total area.
From the assessment, up to 37 counties out of the 47 (79 per cent) have a tree cover percentage greater than the constitutional set target of 10 per cent tree cover.
In addition, results reveal that the country has a tree cover per capita index of 1,507.48m2 per person.
The findings indicate that the country has 5,226,191.79ha of national forest cover which represents 8.83 per cent of the total area.
The report shows the distribution of forests and tree cover across the 47 counties.
To meet the new target, Kefri has the responsibility of increasing the seeds it produces from 60 to 100 metric tonnes per year.
“This will be moved to 1,000 metric tonnes by 2032 to produce between 16 and 20 billion trees,” Cheboiwo says.
-Edited by SKanyara