𝐊𝐅𝐒 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝟏𝟑𝟖 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬

The government, through the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), is in the process of reinstating farming by communities in 138 forests in the country, under plantation establishment through a livelihood scheme program, as opposed to the previous shamba system.

Speaking during a meeting with communities living around Imenti Forest in Imenti Central Constituency, Forestry Principal Secretary (PS) Gitonga Mugambi said the new program, unlike the old one, ensures that the occupiers of forests are members of Community Forest Associations and have been sensitized on the best practices of forests conservation, which was not the case for shamba system.

Besides being members of the Association, the farmers will also be expected to plant and take care of trees ensuring more than 80 percent of their survival within a term of three years. In case the survival rate of trees in a farmer’s plot falls below 80 percent, he added, the farmer will not be considered for a plot in the next plot allocation area and will be blacklisted for future opportunities, another condition that did not feature in shamba system. The benefitting farmers will also be expected to carry out mandatory conservation processes as they move on with their farming activities.

Mugambi said the department had decided to devise ways of co-existence between the forest and the community for mutual benefits. According to the PS, the reinstatement process has so far been implemented in Nyandarua, Nakuru, Kericho, and now Meru, with an aim of getting to all parts of the country to ensure all the forests in the country were conserved.