The Kenya Forest Service has said harvesting 5,000 hectares of plantation forest each year will not undermine government efforts to increasing the country’s forest cover.
KFS board chairman Job Chirchir on Thursday said the country has 150,000 hectares of plantation composed of tree species such as pine, cypress and eucalyptus.
Chirchir said the size of the area under plantations is just five percent of the 2.5 million hectares under the protection of KFS.
“This five per cent is what is uses to raise the money for resource mobilisation, pay our staff and to protect our forest. That is the 2.5 million hectares we are talking about,” Chirchir said.
Lifting the ban also creates jobs, which President William Ruto has promised.
The chair made his remarks at Nairobi Arboretum during the launch of a Strategic Plan (2023-2027) by the Ministry of Environment.
The strategic plan provides a roadmap that the ministry will pursue within the five years.
Chirchir heaped blame on media and Law Society of Kenya for feeding the public with what he termed misinformation.
“To our brothers in the fourth estate in the media, the Law Society of Kenya, it is good that you understand us when we talk of all those resources that we need to plant the 15 billion trees,” he said.
The chairman of the board said they intend to harvest only 5,000 hectares this financial year.
Chirchir said should the service continue to sustainably manage forest resources by harvesting 5,000 hectares every year, 150000 hectares will have been harvested in the next 35 years.
The forest that will have been harvested this year, he argued, will be ready for harvesting.
Chirchir said KFS wants to pull its weight by getting resources ready to assist in plantation, nurturing of forests and development of sustainable forest management
He said the service has forest professionals to help manage resources.
On February 24, 2018, the state imposed a 90-day ban on logging, which was later extended to November 24 that year.
The ban was reimposed to facilitate sector reforms.
But on July 2, the state lifted the ban and harvesting is ongoing.
Following the lifting of the ban, social media platforms have been awash with accusations that the move was reckless and could lead to the degradation of forest resources.
Some NGOs say it is ironic the state is lifting the ban on one hand, while appealing to the citizen to plant more trees.
President William Ruto's administration is seeking to plant at least 15 billion trees across the country to restore forest cover in the next 10 years at a cost of Sh600 billion.
KFS has been insisting that the lifting of the ban on logging in gazetted forests was informed by an inventory of forest plantations.
It said the inventory undertaken by a multi-agency task force commissioned by the former CS for Environment and Forestry had confirmed the available stocks.
“The inventory undertaken from 2020 to 2022 revealed a large number of mature and over-mature forest plantations. As per the Forest Conservation and Management Act, 2016, KFS has a responsibility to manage and utilise forest plantations and ensure they are profitable,” KFS says. The trees are useless if they are left to rot.
Kenya’s gazetted forest estate and the exotic tree species such as pine, cypress and eucalyptus have a rotation period of 25 to 30 years after which if they are not harvested, they begin to rot.
KFS says it uses felling plans to harvest a maximum of 5,000 hectares per year and this ensures the government profits from the investments in forest plantations.
The areas in which harvesting has been undertaken are then replanted.
To ward off malpractices, KFS says it has automated the process of issuing plantation harvesting licenses, which will now be done through the County Forest Conservators.
“Payment of taxes has also been automated to ensure compliance with government tax regulations. A detailed harvesting security plan on access, control and supervision of actual harvesting and reporting has been put in place,” KFS says.
It says as part of the plan, entry certificates are presented to forest station managers before removal of any forest produce.
Upon completion of the felling and withdrawal of materials, exit certificates are issued as evidence of compliance with all requirements.
In addition, e-registration of saw millers was undertaken leading to pre-qualification of applicants into various categories based on their capacities.
Community Forest Associations say they do not benefit despite the crucial role that they play.
Through the National Alliance for Community Forest Associations, they said authorities have totally failed them.
NACOFA chairman Gerald Ngatia said communities have helped the state rehabilitate forests.
“There are no proper plans to sustain community forest associations. CFAs are not facilitated to propagate seedlings and rehabilitate degraded areas,” he said.
