The Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) and Bungoma Deputy Governor Jennifer Mbatiany during the handover of signed contracts to community forest associations at Mabanga ATC in Bungoma on Friday. /NELSON MUSUNGU
By Nelson Musungu
BUNGOMA, Kenya
The Kenya Forest Service (KFS) has awarded contracts to community groups to produce tree seedlings as part of efforts to achieve President William Ruto’s 15 billion tree cover initiative.
The contracts were handed over Friday at Mabanga Agricultural Training College (ATC) in Bungoma to community forest associations (CFAs). Chief Conservator of Forests Alex Lemarkoko said the move is part of a project dubbed Integrated Landscape Management, implemented jointly with communities, county governments and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
“The main objective of the project is to address livelihoods, value chains, conservation, and to restore water towers in Mt. Elgon,” Lemarkoko said. He added that the initiative targets both gazetted forests and farmland.
Lemarkoko said the project also emphasizes the value chains of certain food crops, which will economically empower communities. “Coffee will be our focus crop in this region,” he said.
The project covers eight forest stations in the Mt. Elgon area and is expected to benefit 60,000 residents over its five-year duration, Lemarkoko said.
He explained that handing over the contracts shifts responsibility from KFS to the community associations. “We are moving away from direct implementation.
The communities will now produce 1.6 million seedlings this year,” he said.
The Kenya Forest Service will continue supporting the associations in nursery management, as well as in planting and nurturing seedlings.
“The contract involves raising seedlings, planting and nurturing them until they grow,” Lemarkoko said, calling the approach a departure from previous arrangements where communities played a limited role in ecosystem restoration.
The integrated landscape management initiative aligns with the government’s 15 billion trees strategy, he added.
Bungoma Deputy Governor Jenipher Mbatiany lauded KFS and FAO for partnering with local communities to restore the Mt. Elgon ecosystem, which she said is the main source of rivers in the region.
“As the county government, we are excited that the restoration project has been handed over to the community, thus empowering the locals,” Mbatiany said.
Ends.
