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Forest policy to
impoverish 60,000 families
Story by Michael Njuguna
Publication Date: 06/17/2004
Daily Nation
The termination of the forests' non-resident-cultivation programme,
popularly known as the shamba system, will make more than 60,000
squatter families destitute.
It is also going to cost the government an extra Sh720 million to
establish 30,000 hectares of tree plantations.
The exit of the forest farmers will also impact negatively on food
supply to major towns such as Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Eldoret and
Kisumu.
The 1994-96 Government Development Plan for Nakuru District says
that when the forest dwellers were first evicted in 1988, potato
production (in Nakuru district alone) dropped from 70,481 tonnes to
38,446 metric tonnes.
Maize production also dropped from 1.6 million tonnes to 117,000
tonnes while bean production went down from 20,174 tonnes to 17,371
tonnes between 1988 and 1992.
Through the NRC programme, the Ministry of Environment and Natural
Resources had been spending Sh3,000 to tend a hectare of tree
seedlings but the Conservator of Forests, Mr David Mbugua, says that
his Department will now spend up to Sh27,000.
Since the Department has a planting backlog of 30,000 hectares, it
will require Sh810 million, up from the Sh90 million it would have
spent if the NCR programme had not been suspended.
The Department has been unable to achieve planting targets in the
past, owing to shortage of funds and labour, among other things.
In Nakuru district for example, the planting target for the 1998/99
seasons was 785 hectares but only 55 hectares were covered. Pruning
in the targeted 444 hectares was not done.
Although the district had been expected to plant close to two
million seedlings during the 1998/99 planting seasons, it had only
been allocated Sh250,000 for hiring labourers.
Cypress and pine plantations that flourished in the loosened and
well aerated soils under the NCR system where the farmers tended
their crops alongside the government trees are now unlikely to meet
with the same success. Young cypress and pine plantations are easily
smothered by grasses and other weeds.
Due to the fact that the Forestry Department lacks adequate staff to
supervise labourers who will be hired to tend the new plantations,
the seedlings' survival rate will remain low.
A cypress plantation which was established near Dundori a few years
ago failed completely after it was smothered by grasses.
The forest farmers had also been contributing greatly in protecting
the young trees from destruction by animals such as monkeys and
baboons during the day. In the absence of the farmers, the
plantations will be in danger of being destroyed by animals.
Before the forest dwellers were evicted in 1988,they were allowed to
build temporary shelters within their shambas to keep off nocturnal
animals such as bushpigs and porcupines. This way, the department
was able to ensure the protection of its plantations from wild
animals 24 hours a day free of charge.
Plantations bordering villages and farming areas will now be in
danger of being damaged by livestock since the department does not
erect fences to protect trees.
The department also lacks enough forest guards to patrol both the
young and old plantations.
In the Rift Valley Province which has about 70 per cent of all
government forests, there are only about 800 guards against
1,152,131 hectares of plantations.
The Forest Department also lacks vehicles, communication equipment
and motorable roads within the forests to enable it to deal with
wood poachers and fire outbreaks.
The department cannot monitor the movement of forest products
effectively owing to the porous nature of the borders.
The Forestry Department has also lost millions of shillings as a
result of the poor management that has witnessed frequent harvesting
bans and the allocation of trees to individuals free of charge,
particularly in sections of the Mau Forest.
The chairman of the Kenya Timber Manufacturers Association, Mr
Samuel Gitonga, last week showed reporters heaps of ruined logs in
Kiptunga Forest within Mau Forest.
Mr Gitonga said that the uncoordinated ban resulted in shutting out
the forests to sawmillers who had already paid the Forestry
Department Sh30 million but were denied permission to collect the
logs they had felled.
The 40 year-old pine trees in the Kiptunga Block that ought to have
been harvested 32 years ago are now dying off and going to waste.
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