Kenya has forty seven (47) units of government called county governments. Nyandarua County is one of these governments. Nyandarua County has 27.5% tree cover and 26.2% forest cover. Much of this land belongs to private small scale forest owners. Small scale tree growers have come together and formed an association, Tree Growers Association of Nyandarua , for the purpose of linkages, marketing and advocating. Unlike other continents, Africa is within the tropics hence we have got the advantage of speedy growth rate of the trees. Due to this, most forest owners usually do clear felling of their woodlots which makes a huge negative impact on the climate. In 2020, Tree Growers Association of Nyandarua (TGAN) in collaboration with Farm Forest Smallholders Producer Association of Kenya (FFSPAK) was able to conduct the first ever tree census in Kenya and Africa on the private forests. The analysis showed that private land owners have more land which can be planted with more trees. With the great evolution on climate mitigation and reduction in negative environmental footprint, TGAN in collaboration with the International Family Forestry Alliance (IFFA) has developed a plan on propagation of indigenous tree species among small scale farmers in Nyandarua County. This plan’s main aim is to propagate and distribute indigenous trees to the commercial forest owners. These trees take long to mature (50-200 years) and will help in the environment conservation and sustainability. With a growing population and ambitious economic development plans, the increase in demand for various basic and natural resources such as food, water and land are putting a strain on supply of these resources, Planting indigenous trees enhance environmental conservation and sustainability among more than four thousand (4000) small scale tree farmers in Nyandarua county. The seven sub counties which make up the Nyandarua County will be the focal centers of the plan. Each sub county will have tree nurseries for indigenous trees which later will be distributed to our members all over the county. Co-financed by a German donor this will be achieved by enabling tree farmers of Nyandarua county to establish tree nurseries all over. Tree farmers of Nyandarua county will be enabled to plant and to manage indigenous trees in their farms in order to contribute to landscape restoration to eradicate poverty and support sustainable livelihood.
Benjamin Karanja-TGAN Chairman
Lorenz Klein von Wisenberg IFFA
