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Retired general on campaign to promote commercial tree farming in Kenya- Story by African Confidential Magazine

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Kenya to promote commercial forestry in counties- Xinhua Report

NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- Kenya said Tuesday it has fine-tuned the legal and policy framework to promote commercial tree planting in the East African nation’s 47 counties, senior officials said on Tuesday. Conservation Secretary in the Ministry of Environment Gideon Gathara revealed that the government will soon roll out a raft of incentives to expand commercial tree plantations in the country. “We are in the process of realigning the forestry act of 2005 to incorporate commercial forestry. The government recognizes the role of commercial tree plantations in catalyzing a low carbon transition,” said Gathara He spoke at a workshop for commercial forest growers held in Nairobi to advocate for institutionalization of entrepreneurship in the forestry sector. Kenya’s forestry sector contributes 3.6 percent to the GDP and has been identified by the vision 2030 as critical to sustainable development in the country. Gathara noted that Kenya has not fully exploited its forest resources due to policy and regulatory hurdles, inadequate technology and funding. The government has prioritized several incentives to encourage investments in commercial forestry. Gathara disclosed that the government will establish a trust fund to enable land-owners access capital to expand tree cover in their farms. “We have mooted an insurance scheme to secure investments in forestry while capacity building for small scale farmers intending to venture in commercial tree planting is on the cards,” said Gathara. Commercial tree planting will enable Kenya to achieve the United Nations benchmark of 10 percent forest cover. Chairman of the Kenya Forest Growers Association Humphrey Njoroge stressed that commercial tree planting has created wealth and job opportunities for youth and women. There are an estimated 16,000 private tree growers in Kenya who have added 17,000 hectares of forest cover across the country. Njoroge revealed that commercial tree plantations have created 30, 000 new jobs in rural areas.

Report Courtesy of Coastweek

Commercial tree farming on the increase in Kenya- Story by CNBC Africa