MITI 3

EU-funded SPGS pushes tree planting Nyongoro Ranch set for take-off Ugandan farmers discover green gold Sandalwood: A useful parasite Harvesting water in drylands

I s s u e N o . 0 0 0 3 J u l y - Se p t e m b er 2009

A complex issue

Destroying the Mau will cost us dearly

Holding up Lamu

Mangroves are a major pillar of that economy

Steeped in tradition

Master boat-builders still practise an ancient craft

Charcoal is not a dirty word

The industry offers huge economic opportunities

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Editorial

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A burning issue The charcoal industry offers huge economic opportunities

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A complex matter We destroy the Mau forests at our peril

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Help from across the sea The EU’s forestry activities in EA

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Laying the foundation Nyongoro ranch in Lamu to go into tree growing Time to multiply the fruit Scientists have started domesticating indigenous drylands fruits Holding up Lamu Mangroves play an important economic role in the archipelago A long-term vision NFA and World Vision to plant 13 million trees

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Gold is turning green Ugandan farmers realise there is money in growing trees

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A useful parasite The East African sandalwood has potential as a cash crop

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A tree with great potential The future looks bright for cultivation of Acacia senegal, which produces gum arabic

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A tall order Prices rise as demand for wood products outstrips supply

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Supporting tree-growers in Uganda European Union-funded SPGS pushes commercial tree planting

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Water for a thirsty land Ways of harvesting the precious commodity in ASAL

Show me the money What’s more profitable between food crops and trees in Kenya’s south-eastern drylands Rooted in the past Lamu’s master boat-builders still practise their ancient craft An oasis of hope Kitui’s Nyumbani Village is greening the landscape

EU-fund ed SPGS pushes Nyongo tree plan ro Ranch ting set for take Uganda -off n farmers discove Sandalw r green ood: A use gold ful para Harvest site ing wat er in dryl ands

On the cover: Charcoal in bags – in Mutha division, Mutomo District – ready for transportation. The lorry will tour the countryside late afternoon, as evening approaches, to gradually complete its load, and then depart for Nairobi at night

Issu e No. 000 3 July - Sep tem

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Editorial

The trees are talking

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ecently, we visited our good friend Abdi Boche, the Chief of Didewaride location in the Tana delta, when he was mourning his sister. We found him surrounded by hundreds of mourners who for one week stayed with the family, to help ease the pain of losing a loved one.

You may well ask what this has to do with trees. The truth is that this sad event opened our minds to different issues, some of them of course related to social interactions, but we also found parallels with how human beings should relate with nature.

Indeed, in the course of our lives, children are born and older people die. During this cycle, some of us have accidents, some are killed, some are happy while others are abused, some do well and others suffer.

However, in all cases, we have the opportunity to steer our lives to match our dreams and aspirations.

But what if trees could talk? What if they had the power to take charge of their lives like we do?

We at Miti magazine believe the world could have a very different face, a much better face than it has today. We humans have spoiled it for our friends the trees. We have killed them, we have denied them the right to multiply by destroying their habitat and we have used them ungratefully and treated them without respect, after which we throw them away without grace. We have cut them without mercy and guess what, today they are taking revenge. Their depletion has brought global warming, drought, floods, diseases and hunger - in one word, death!

This issue of Miti carries an article on how charcoal can offer vast production and employment opportunities. The subject of Mau forest has been in the news of late. Find out what the experts have to say on this controversial issue.

Better Globe Forestry has elaborated on the progress of its cooperative efforts with the Witu-Nyongoro Ranch Directed Agricultural Company Ltd to plant Jatropha curcas trees at the coast. You will also discover the magical world of mangroves and their importance to the people of the coast. And we will offer you a glimpse of the workings of the Lamu master craftsmen who fashion boats out of wood using their hands and the most basic tools.

Find out how “gold is turning green” in Uganda. Once again, the EU has provided some very interesting information concerning their initiatives in the region.

This issue also carries interesting research findings by Kenya Forestry Research (KEFRI) scientists on how we can manage some common indigenous trees for our benefit. There is information on water management in arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL) and as you come to the end of your journey through this issue, you come across information on how wood prices are rising in parts of the country.

When treated well, trees are our friends and as such, they mean life! Let us treat them well.

Asante sana.

Jean-Paul Deprins Miti magazine

Published by:

Chairman of the Editorial Board:

Editorial Coordinator – Uganda

TQML LTD P. O. Box 823 – 00606 Nairobi, Kenya Tel: + 254 20 434 3435 Mobile: + 254 722 262 061 Email: kenya@mitiafrica.com

Rino Solberg

Joshua Ondyer

Editor-in-chief

Contributing Editor

Uganda office: MITI MAGAZINE ® P. O. Box 22232 Kampala, Uganda Mobile: + 256 752 896 205 Email: uganda@mitiafrica.org

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Jean-Paul Deprins

Managing Editor – Kenya Wanjiru Ciira

Mundia Muchiri

Designer Daniel Ngugi

Technical Editor Jan Vandenabeele

Advertising and subscription

Managing Editor – Uganda

Total Quality Management Ltd.

Julie Solberg

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Miti July-September 2009

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A stack of wood piled up for making charcoal. Next, the wood will be covered with soil to make a socalled “earth kiln”

A burning issue

Managed properly, the charcoal industry offers vast production and employment opportunities

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By Jan Vandenabeele

roduction of charcoal is an age-old trade, and in this age of nuclear power plants and wind turbines, charcoal, together with firewood, are still major suppliers of energy in Africa.

Charcoal provides fuel for cooking both for slum-dwellers and rich nyama choma consumers in urban centres in most of subSaharan Africa, as well as offering a survival opportunity for poor producers in the rural areas surrounding the consuming towns. It is not a coincidence that in times of drought and increased hardship in the countryside, more bags of charcoal are seen on roadsides, ready for transport.

Charcoal production is a poverty industry, throwing a lifeline to farmers who have seen their crops wither through lack of rain. However, it is an unsustainable one, as trees – the most coveted are acacias - do not get enough time for regeneration and growth to fill the void left by felling, and neither does planting take place to replace the trees that are cut.

Indeed, planting trees is hard in arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL) where most of the charcoal is produced, while another characteristic of those areas, free roaming herds of goats, dispose of small saplings before they grow big enough to be safe from nibbling. The malicious influence of mbuzi on the vegetation has been known for a long time, but is still underestimated in East Africa.

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Some years ago, charcoal used to come from areas like Machakos (Masinga division, currently bare of forested areas, used to be a major producer), and then after exhausting the trees, the supply areas started shifting towards more remote places in Kitui and Mwingi. Currently, Narok is increasingly producing charcoal for Nairobi. The tendency is clear. Year after year, the charcoal producing areas are moving further away from Nairobi, leaving in their wake ASAL denuded of acacias, making them more vulnerable to ecological degradation by water and wind.

This is all the more painful as the charcoal is produced in so-called “earth kilns”, meaning that soil is heaped over a stack of branches, pieces and small logs of wood, with some simple regulation for air access for combustion to char the wood but not to burn it. If skilfully done, the conversion rates from wood to charcoal can reach 10-12 per cent - that is, about one tenth of the wood becomes charcoal. If done haphazardly, the conversion rate is lower, say 6-8 per cent, and hence the losses of wood are higher.

This means that the energy that the wood contains and that the tree accumulated over 15 to 30 years of growth is simply burned and lost in the atmosphere. This is not only ecologically destructive but also wasteful.

Other techniques, like brick or steel kilns exist. These are more efficient, can reach conversion rates of 25-30 per cent, and

are even used in places like Brazil to make charcoal for steel production. However, they need investment and appropriate knowledge.

Kakuzi Ltd is an alternative producer of charcoal. The company uses brick kilns to make charcoal from eucalypt wood that is discarded from pole production. However, profitability is low, as its charcoal has to compete with that produced by ordinary farmers, where neither labour nor the trees themselves are properly factored in the final price they fetch for a couple of bags.

Indeed, most of the money paid in town for the charcoal goes to the traders, middlemen and transporters, while the producers are squeezed to the maximum, and get a raw deal for their sweat and time.

As can be seen, the trade comprises a whole chain of actors. It is also complicated by the laws that govern it. Indeed, one can produce charcoal on one’s farm without being bothered by the law, and consumers can freely buy charcoal in town. However, transporting charcoal is not legal. It does not take much imagination to see the trail of corruption this entails along the road, before a lorry loaded with bags of charcoal reaches its destination. Night transport and the use of panya (illegal and irregular) routes to avoid roadblocks is one consequence. This also contributes to inefficient pricing to the detriment of the consumer, to whom the costs are passed ultimately.

Miti July-September 2009

The new Forest Bill provides for additional regulations, to get the charcoal trade out of this illegality. The Kenya Forest Service (KFS) is currently working on guidelines and regulations to implement a legal charcoal business (see article on pg 6).

But where does this high demand for charcoal originate? Most of the consumers are urban slum dwellers, as the rural population mostly uses firewood. Therefore, while charcoal production is a poverty business, current charcoal use is fuelled by poverty on the consumer side.

Cooking on a charcoal fire is a dirty and unhealthy business, with dust and fumes contributing to poor health of the people, mostly women, preparing the food. Alternative sources of energy like kerosene, gas or electricity are too expensive for them. However, as people climb out of poverty, they will switch automatically to these. For instance, there is a direct relation between charcoal consumption and the price of kerosene. A higher price of kerosene automatically leads to an increased consumption of charcoal. One study shows a 100 per cent increase in the price of kerosene leading to a140 per cent increase of charcoal use. A country like Tunisia has seen a dramatic fall in the consumption of charcoal when standards of living were rising to their actual levels.

As levels of poverty in Kenya have been rising over the last decades and as the current economic downturn is not improving matters either, consumption of charcoal in Kenya is not going to decrease.

There lies an opportunity. Large-scale growing of acacias combined with efficiently operated kilns can replace the actual dysfunctional (but also well-organised) state of the industry and be a sustainable business, not the environmentally degrading activity it is now. This would also save the industry from collapse in the future from lack of raw material and increasing transport costs.

An earth kiln in the final stages of burning, still smoking

East Africa counts 62 different species of acacias, growing in various ecological conditions from high altitude zones to ASAL. When adequately cultivated and treated well as a farmer would treat his maize crop, some of them (see page 7) will grow fast and give a good yield. Moreover, and contrary to the maize crop, they will survive years of drought and provide a good income within 10 years.

Indeed, for easy felling and handling in the charcoal production process, the trees need not even grow too big.

Of late, many people have committed themselves to tree planting of mostly eucalypt clones, even in relatively dry areas like Kajiado district. This is because of the attractive prices for poles for electricity transmission, and this trend will continue for years. However, why not diversify into acacia plantations, combined with construction of a battery of cheap brick kilns? A medium size unit with a loading capacity of 16m3 of wood, and able to produce 100 bags of charcoal in one firing, costs approximately Ksh 50,000.

Of course, this is not a new activity, as EATEC has been doing this for years with black wattle (Acacia mearnsii) plantations

around Eldoret. They considered it a by-product, as the main objective of the industry was tannin production for the leather industry. It was done in a sustainable way, and the Nairobi market absorbed the production. This was however on highpotential land, while indigenous acacias (the black wattle tree originally is from Australia) can perform in ASAL. It is not farfetched to imagine a Kenyan charcoal industry that exports to the Gulf countries, based on sustainably grown indigenous acacias, and successfully competing with the current devastating felling of mangroves for charcoal in southern Somalia destined for the same market.

Apart from “sustainable”, the other key word is “large-scale”. This means either wealthy individuals able to invest serious amounts of money, or groupings of smallholders that together have the muscle to plant tens of thousands of hectares to grow a substantial amount of wood for the kilning operations and the marketing of tonnes of charcoal. The regulations being drafted by KFS are working towards such goals.

In conclusion, the charcoal industry and business is not going to disappear from the Kenyan scene in the near future, and we have to live with it, with or without better regulations and supervision from the Government (but hopefully with).

Enterprising individuals might go into industrial-scale production through growing of acacias instead of felling them, creating value and employment in the process. If not, the current degradation of Kenyan vegetation and soils will continue and contribute to increasing poverty The writer is the Executive Director, Better Globe Forestry Ltd. Email: jan@betterglobeforestry.com

Removal of charcoal out of an earth kiln

Miti July-September 2009

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Sticking to the rules

The Kenya Forest Service seeks to introduce guidelines to transform the charcoal trade into a viable economic activity

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By Leakey Sonkoyo

n order to create employment and reduce poverty among the citizenry, the government is under great pressure to identify new income generation avenues and an expanded revenue base for the taxman. Forestry offers one of the greatest avenues through which Kenyans can create wealth.

The Forest Act 2005 provides for the formulation of an enabling framework for the efficient and sustainable production, distribution and marketing of biomass and charcoal. It is estimated that the charcoal industry is worth a staggering Ksh 32 billion.

It is also approximated that the government losses some Ksh 5.1 billion annually from uncollected tax thanks to the informal nature of the industry. These are conservative figures considering that approximately eight out of every 10 Kenyans use wood fuel and over 50 per cent of urban populations use charcoal as the main source of energy for domestic use.

However, although large quantities of the product are consumed annually, the production and transportation of charcoal has remained invisible, unregulated, disorganised and characterised by corrupt practices, giving the industry a semi-illegal status and a negative image.

The Kenya Forest Service (KFS) is thus in the process of instituting guidelines formalising and streamlining the charcoal business. According to the KFS Director, David Mbugua, the charcoal industry in Kenya employs over 700,000 people who support over 2 million dependants. Since the high value of charcoal is not captured in the national economic statistics, it remains a low profile industry, a status that makes it difficult

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to access funds for its development. “Therefore, the charcoal regulations are expected to regulate production, distribution and marketing of charcoal in order to make it a viable and environmentally sustainable venture,� says Mr Mbugua.

The Forest Act also provides for promotion of the use of fast maturing trees for energy production, including bio fuels, and the establishment of commercial woodlots, including peri-urban plantations.

The broad policy and legal framework for sustainable wood fuel development is in place and favourable. However, the detailed guidelines and regulations to facilitate implementation are not in place, hence the need for charcoal regulations.

Two recent studies show that over 85 per cent of the charcoal used in the country is produced outside government forests.

This suggests that small-scale farmers and ranchers could be facilitated to produce charcoal for income.

Experts say that current charcoal production methods are also inefficient and result in over 90 per cent wastage.

However, the regularisation of the industry is expected to give impetus to the investment in efficient charcoal production technologies and improvement of existing ones. The regulations will also ensure full-time charcoal producers are licensed to sustainably manage the over 150,000 hectares of un-exploited Prosopis, leleshwa and other invasive tree species, which could be sustainably harvested for charcoal.

Part of the draft regulations provide for the formation of charcoal producer associations to be registered by the Registrar of Societies. Only members of such associations would be licensed by

A collection point for charcoal in Mwingi District.

Producers are often completely dependent on the middlemen who transport the charcoal. This position of power allows the middlemen to dictate prices to the disadvantage of producers

KFS to engage in the charcoal production business. The association would develop a code of conduct that would help it to self regulate. The association would also facilitate the sustainable production of charcoal by promoting appropriate technologies as well as utilising fast growing trees for charcoal production as opposed to cutting down indigenous trees.

The association would also be charged with facilitating the transportation and marketing of charcoal for its members.

According to the draft regulations, a charcoal licensing committee would be established in all conservancies. The committee would issue and cancel licences for the production and general trade in charcoal. The licensing committee would also approve plans for charcoal production in their respective conservancies.

The charcoal regulations would also require that charcoal associations have a reforestation plan, failure to which no licence would be issued. This is to ensure that charcoal is produced in a sustainable manner without the risk of depletion of forest resources in a given area.

Charcoal production from endangered tree species is also prohibited in the draft charcoal rules.

These are just a few of the provisions in the draft charcoal regulation guidelines which, if approved by the government, will see a shift of charcoal production from the largely unsustainable and unprofitable nature to a more viable economic activity in the country The writer is Corporate Communications Officer, Kenya Forest Service Email: lsonkoyo@kenyaforestservice.org

Miti July-September 2009

Technical guidelines Acacia plantations for charcol in ASAL Species: Acacia polyacantha (falcon’s claw acacia), A. xanthophloea (yellow fever tree) and A. nilotica (Egyptian thorn). They are classified in terms of water requirements, from higher to lower, but all are very drought resistant.

Acacia mellifera (wait-a-bit thorn) and A. senegal (Sudan gum arabic) are even hardier, and can be planted in hedges, making for an impenetrable fence.

Silviculture: A. polyacantha is capable of surprisingly fast growth, but all have to be grown in properly prepared – that is, ploughed and harrowed – soil, to keep them free from competition presented by grass.

Some more weeding is recommended in the first three years, but the thorns can complicate this if the spacing is small.

Stems of 13-year-old Acacia kirkii, densely planted

Spacing for hedges should be 0.3mx0.3m - 0.5x0.5m.

Eventually some pruning can take place in the first years, slashing small branches with a panga, for better accessibility to the main stem for weeding and for easy harvesting.

Planting distance: This can be as low as 1mx1m if the site is good, as diameters of stems and branches do not have to be bigger than 5-10cm for charcoal production. Spacings like 1mx3m are more appropriate for maintenance and exploitation.

A plantation of Acacia xanthophlea, planted in 2007 at close spacing (approx 1.2mx1m) that survived two consecutive dry years. Note the silhouettes in the background at the right of hybrid eucalyptus clones, dying-back due to drought. (Photo taken in a pilot plantation of Woodlands 2000 Trust in Kajiado District in May 2009)

Miti July-September 2009

Exploitation: This can start as early as 5-8 years onwards, and the trees coppice, just like eucalypts, so that several rotations can be harvested without planting anew.

Some small pilot plantations can be seen in Kajiado district, established and managed by The Woodlands 2000 Trust

Small-sized pieces of charcoal and the acacia branches from which it is produced

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A complex issue

The Mau forests are tied up with our survival. We destroy them at our peril

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By Christian Lambrechts

he Mau Forests Complex is located on the western side of the Rift Valley.

Its forests span north-south from Eldama Ravine to Narok and east-west from Nakuru to Kericho. They form the largest closed-canopy forest ecosystem of Kenya.

Before the disputed 2001 excisions, the Mau Complex forests covered some 416,543 hectares, an area as large as the forests of Mt Kenya and the Aberdares combined.

The Mau Forests Complex is the largest of the five “water towers” of Kenya, the others being Mt Kenya, Aberdares, Cherangani Hills and Mt Elgon. The Mau Forests Complex forms part of the upper catchments of all (but one) main rivers on the west side of the Rift Valley, including Nzoia, Yala, Nyando, Sondu, Mara, Ewaso Ngiro (south), Naishi, Makalia, Nderit, Njoro, Molo and Kerio.

Through these rivers, the Mau Complex feeds major lakes, including Victoria, Turkana, Baringo, Nakuru and Natron, of which three are cross-boundary lakes.

The Mau Forests Complex provides invaluable ecological services, in terms of river flow regulation, flood mitigation, water storage, recharge of groundwater, reduced soil erosion and siltation, water purification, promoting biodiversity and microclimate regulation.

These services support key economic sectors, including energy, tourism, agriculture (cash crops, subsistence crops and livestock) as well as water supply to urban centres and industries. The forests also provide other major environmental services, including nutrients cycling and soil formation.

Looking years ahead, environmental stability and secured provision of ecological goods and services will remain essential to attain sustainable development in Kenya. They are crosscutting, underlying requirements to achieve Vision 2030 - Kenya’s development blueprint aiming at making the country a newly industrialising middleincome nation, providing high quality of life for all the citizens.

Energy Hydropower plants generate over 57 per cent of Kenya’s total electricity output.

Hydropower generated electricity is the

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cheapest and one of the most environmentfriendly sources of energy.

The potential of hydropower generation on rivers that have predominantly their upper catchments in the Mau Complex has been estimated at 535 megawatts (MW), a potential that represents 41 per cent of the total current installed capacity. Among the rivers flowing from the Mau Complex, the Sondu and the Ewaso Ngiro have the largest hydropower potential estimated at 209 and 220 MW respectively.

A number of sites in the Mau Forests Complex catchments have already been developed, are currently being developed or are to be developed in future. The Sondu-Miriu Hydropower Scheme with an electricity generation capacity of 60 MW has been recently completed on the Sondu River - the upper catchment of which is South West Mau Forest Reserve. The Sondu-Miriu Scheme was financed with the support of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and cost Ksh 15 billion (USD 238 million). The Sang’oro Hydropower Scheme, an extension of the Sondu-Miriu Scheme, is currently under implementation. It will have a capacity of 21.4 MW. The estimated investment will be around Ksh 3.4 billion (USD 54 million).

On the same river further downstream, the Magwagwa Multipurpose Dam Scheme, with an anticipated capacity of 94.6 megawatts, has also been proposed. In the large tea estates around Kericho, small hydropower plants have been installed on the tributaries of the Sondu River, generating 4 MW. In addition, a recent feasibility study has assessed the hydropower generation potential and economic viability of four sites in the Nandi highlands. The potential capacity of those four sites is estimated at 9.5 MW. The total capacity of these developed, currently being developed and proposed hydropower plant sites in the Mau Complex catchments is estimated at 189.4 MW with an average annual energy production of 960 gigawatts-hour. The sale value of the average energy production on these sites will be in the range of Ksh 10 billion per year.

To secure the installed hydropower capacity and the yet to be developed potential of the Mau Complex catchments, it is imperative to secure and conserve the forests.

Tourism Over the past years, the tourism industry has been one of the first three largest foreign currency earners for the country. In 2007, consolidated earnings from tourism amounted to Ksh 65.4 billion. Tourism is also a major source of employment, providing at least 400,000 jobs in the formal sector and over 600,000 in the informal sector.

The rivers flowing from the Mau Complex are the lifeline for major tourism destination areas including the Maasai Mara National Reserve and Lake Nakuru National Park. In 2007, the revenue from the entry fees alone amounted to Ksh 650 million and Ksh 513 million for the Maasai Mara and Lake Nakuru respectively. The annual indirect revenues from tourism in those two conservation areas are estimated to be in excess of Ksh 5 billion.

Those rivers are also the lifeline for a number of other conservation areas of which the tourism potential is not yet fully developed. These include Kakamega National Reserve, Kerio Valley National Reserve, South Turkana National Reserve, Lake Baringo and Lake Natron (see Map 2). These conservation areas host a high diversity of flora and fauna. For example, three of them – Kakamega, Baringo, and Natron - are classified as “Important Bird Areas” 1, Kakamega and Baringo hosting each over 450 bird species, while Natron is the main breeding area for the lesser flamingos in the Rift Valley.

Other “Important Bird Areas” that depend on rivers flowing from the Mau Complex include Koguta Swamp (Kenya – Sondu River), Kusa Swamp (Kenya – Nyando River), Serengeti National Park (Tanzania – Mara River), Mara Bay and Masirori Swamp (Tanzania – Mara River).

Agriculture – cash crops One of the main cash crops grown in Kenya is tea. Across the country, tea-growing areas are located near montane forests. Indeed, 1 Important Bird Areas are key sites for conservation that have been identified based on globally defined criteria: 1) hold significant numbers of one or more globally threatened bird species; and/or 2) are one of a set of sites that together hold a suite of restricted-range bird species or biome-restricted bird species; and/or 3) have exceptionally large numbers of migratory or congregatory bird species.

Miti July-September 2009

for optimum tea growth, three climatic conditions must be met: constant moisture, soil temperature between 16 and 25 °C and air temperature between 10 and 30 °C. These climatic conditions are found in areas adjacent to forests.

West of the Rift Valley, the tea growing areas are located in the Kericho, Kisii and Nandi highlands, the Cherangani Hills and Mt Elgon. The 2007 sale value of the tea from western Kenya is estimated at Ksh 12.4 billion. In western Kenya, the tea sector provides jobs to 50,000 persons and a livelihood to 75,000 small farmers, together supporting some 645,000 dependants.

It is estimated that two third of the tea produced in western Kenya is grown in areas that benefit from the ecological functions of the Mau Forests Complex, including the maintenance of favourable microclimatic conditions (constant moisture, air temperature, soil temperature).

Rice is another important cash crop

that depends of the Mau Forests Complex ecological services. Indeed, about 95 per cent of the rice in Kenya is grown under irrigation in paddy schemes. In 2006, 5,234 hectares of rice was cultivated in the deltas of the Yala and Nyando rivers of which the Mau Forests Complex forms parts of their upper catchments. The estimated 2006 market value of the rice produced in those deltas is estimated at Ksh 1 billion.

Agriculture – subsistence livelihoods The rivers flowing from the Mau Forests Complex cross 478 sub-locations where the total population is estimated at over 5.5 million. Directly or indirectly, a significant proportion of that population depends on the water flowing in these rivers for their subsistence livelihoods.

People who live within five kilometres from the forests of the Mau Forests Complex depend, partially or totally, on the forests for firewood, grazing and medicinal plants.

Water supply to urban areas The Mau Complex is the single most important source of water for direct human consumption in urban areas and for industrial activities in Rift Valley and Western Kenya.

Major urban areas depending on the water flowing from the Mau Complex include Bomet, Elburgon, Eldama Ravine, Kericho, Molo, Nakuru, Narok and Njoro.

Water and security In the recent past, diminishing water supplies have led to conflicts involving various communities. Water-related conflicts have negative national security ramifications, such as the Mai Mahiu – Kijabe – Longonot conflicts between various water users that led to loss of life and destruction of property.

Continuous degradation of the forests in the Mau Forests Complex will exacerbate conflicts over natural resources.

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Miti July-September 2009

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Map 2: Mau Forests Complex: Critical water catchments to major conservation areas

Regional / international dimensions The rivers flowing from the Mau Forests Complex drain into five lakes, three of them are international water bodies: Lake Victoria (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda), Lake Natron (Kenya and Tanzania) and Lake Turkana (Kenya and Ethiopia). Five rivers – Nzoia, Yala, Nyando, Sondu and Mara – that have upper catchments in the Mau Complex drain into Lake Victoria. They are part of the Nile River Basin.

The sedimentation rate in Lake Victoria is accelerating due to deforestation coupled with poor agricultural practices. Increased sediment influx is mainly from these five (Kenyan) rivers and from the Kagera River.

The estimated value of the soil lost to Kenyan farmers is thought to exceed US$40 million annually, a figure that does not take into account extensive losses to the lake’s multimillion dollar fishing industry. The sediment load in the rivers is particularly high during flash flows, which can be mitigated through the maintenance of a healthy

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forest cover in the upper catchments. High sediment/nutrient load into the lake is a major contributor to the development and expansion of the water hyacinth on the lake with negative impact on the lake’s fisheries and associated economic activities.

Kenya, as a signatory to multilateral environmental agreements, has also a number of obligations under international law that pertain to the conservation and sustainable management of the Mau Forests Complex and its catchments: 1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat. Lake Nakuru National Park has been recognised as a wetland of global importance and listed as a Ramsar Site in 1990. Under the Ramsar Convention, Kenya has an obligation to “formulate and implement its planning so as to promote the conservation of the wetlands included in the List”.

1992 Convention on Biological

Diversity. Under the Convention, Kenya has the obligation to, among others, establish a system of protected areas or areas where special measures need to be taken to conserve biological diversity and promote the protection of ecosystems.

1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Under the Convention, Kenya is committed to promote and cooperate in the conservation and enhancement, as appropriate, of sinks and reservoirs of all greenhouse gases.

1999 East African Treaty. Under the Treaty, the parties, including Kenya, are committed to take necessary measures to conserve their natural resources The writer is Policy and Programme Officer, Division of Early Waming and Assessment, UNEP Email: Christian.Lambrechts@unep.org

Miti July-September 2009

Help across the seas

The European Commission supports afforestation in East Africa

By Daniel Plas

Part II

A

Part I of this article was carried in Miti Issue 0002 new project, Tanzania Participatory Forest Management Project, was approved at the end of 2008, and implementation by FARM Africa started in early 2009. This project will build on the experience from the Duru Haitemba forest, funded by SIDA through the Local Authority Management Project (LAMP).

In addition to support through NGOs, the European Commission also supports the forestry sector through support to the Tanzania Government.

Kenya

In Kenya, the Community Development Trust Fund is implementing 25 integrated projects in critical watersheds, which integrate income generating, forest protection, biodiversity conservation, improvement of agricultural practices and the strengthening of community based organisations (CBOs), including the networking with government and non-governmental agencies. Typical forestry related activities include facilitating participatory forest management activities, establishment of nurseries, reforestation, promotion of fuel-efficient stoves and protection of rivers. The budget for these projects over a four-year period is 5 million euro. For more information on this programme, visit the CDTF website at: http://www.cdtfkenya.org/about.asp

For more information, visit the National Forestry Authority website at www.nfa.org.ug

East African Community

Current support to the EAC is under the 9th European Development Fund, through the Regional Programme for the Eastern and Southern Africa and Indian Ocean region. The aim of this programme is to increase economic growth and reduce poverty through higher levels of regional economic integration.

The first focal sector of Economic Integration and Trade is the core area and supports the regional economic integration agenda. The second focal sector of Natural Resources supports the integration with functional activities aiming at better management of the environment. In the case of the EAC, Lake Victoria presents an important shared environmental challenge.

Finally, the Transport and Telecommunication programmes contribute to facilitating intra-regional trade and thus regional integration. EAC’s transport and telecommunications plans might be compared in their role to the Trans-European Networks that underpinned the creation of the EU single market The views expressed in this article are purely those of the author and may not, in any circumstances, be regarded as stating the official position of the European Commission.

The writer is the Head of Social and Environmental Section, Delegation of European Commission to the Republic of Kenya Email: daniel.plas@ec.europa.eu

Tanzania

In Tanzania, forest resources are regarded as being seriously threatened by uncontrolled exploitation through agricultural expansion, commercial logging, fuel wood extraction and mining. EC supports projects in natural resources management. For example, in agriculture, EC supports the Trade and Agricultural Support Programme and in environment, it supports the forthcoming 10th EDF Energy Programme, NSA Programme in Environment and Global Climate Change Alliance.

More broadly, more than half of the 10th EDF envelope for Tanzania is set aside for General Budget Support, whose operational targets include, among others, “reduced negative impacts on environment and peoples’ livelihoods” and “reduced land degradation and loss of biodiversity.”

Uganda

In Uganda, the European Commission supported the Forest Resources Management and Conservation Programme with a budget of 12 million euro that ended in December 2006. The project supported forest management for conservation and increased sustainable production by government, individuals, groups and the commercial sector, with specific inclusion of currently disadvantaged people - mainly the rural poor. Its main activities included: Skills development and capacity building, Production of standards and guidelines for forestry operations, Supporting collaborative forest management and enhancing community participation, Support for eco-tourism, Support for drawing up of forestry agreements, boundary demarcations and monitoring establishment of demonstration plantations, Establishment of the Sawlog Production Grant Scheme, allocation of plantation permits, monitoring of harvesting and utilisation contracts.

Miti July-September 2009

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The Orma village of Didewaride in the Tana Delta. Note the typical structure of the huts, and the presence of cattle, some of which are enjoying smoke to eliminate parasites (ticks)

Laying the foundation Nyongoro ranch in Lamu to go into tree growing

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Ecology

By Jan Vandenabeele

mm

itu/Nyongoro Ranch Directed Agricultural Company The climate of the ranch is tropical, with the average annual temLtd, hereafter called Nyongoro Ranch, is a private entity perature at 28oC, and rainfall decreasing quickly from the south to the with a special statute in which the Kenya Government, north, so that the greater portion of the ranch is situated in semi-arid through the Ministry of Livestock Development, has an land. The yearly evolution of both average temperature and rainfall important say. The ranch is situated in Lamu District, Witu division, Didewaride and Panaverage annual rainfall and temp in TDIP Gamba, 2001-07 danguo locations, on Kenya’s north coast.

31.0 140.0 It is roughly rectangular, with the long side total average rainf all 667mm 30.0 120.0 running west-east over a distance of 26.5km 29.0 100.0 average yearly temperature 28°C 28.0 and the short side north-south over about 80.0 27.0 ° C 17km. Its southern border stretches to the 60.0 26.0 40.0 Malindi-Lamu road and beyond.

25.0 20.0 24.0 As such, the ranch is at the boundary of 23.0 the Tana Delta. The total area is 32,000ha, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 month part of which is to be leased to Better Globe Forestry Ltd (BGF), for growing Jatropha TDIP: Tana Delta Irrigation Project (from TARDA - Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority) curcas.

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Miti July-September 2009

can be seen in the graph below. The coldest months are July-August and the warmest March-April. Rainfall in bimodal, with two peaks: one in May and another one in December.

The land is almost flat, with altitudes above sea level ranging between (10)-20 and 30m, the lowest point being a large lake, called Mkondo wa Nyongoro. This is where a big part of the ranch drains its water. The vegetation is an alternation of open grasslands, (“siwas”), periodically inundated with wooded grasslands and strips of woodland. The “siwas” are large open depressions, overlying limestone sinkholes. The land exhibits strong seasonal effects. Often, lakes form during the rainy season, sometimes retaining water all year round; variably marshy in central zones throughout.

Woodland and wooded grasslands form a mix of more open pasture under scattered trees (less than 20 per cent cover), to denser areas where palms form a near continuous canopy, with variably dense, bushy thicket underneath. The thorn shrub Harrisonia abyssinica is found extensively in the area.

Afzelia quanzensis, Dalbergia melanoxylon, Dialium orientale, Erythrophleum suaveolens, Terminalia sambesiaca, Terminalia spinosa, Trichilia emetica and Milicia excels are tree species found in the area, in both the woodland and the forest. They produce interesting timber but much of it has been depleted through legal and illegal felling.

Tree species like T. spinosa and D. melanoxylon are representative of semi-arid zones. Doum palm (Hyphaene compressa) is omnipresent in the area where groundwater is not too far away.

Because of the flat topography, drainage locally is poor and water collects in swamps, lakes and smaller pans. However, infiltration into sandy soils and evaporation (less than 2000mm/year) are high. The latter means that water dries up quickly. A number of tree and shrub species observed indicate a semi-arid environment.

Fresh groundwater is limited to depths of up to 25m below the ground. Beyond 25m, the water is saline. The geological formations

of the local aquifers are sandstone, siltstone, clay and limestone.

Limestone formations occur below depths of 10m, while sandy, silt and clay horizons range in depth from ground surface to below 30m.

The groundwater table in the area, as in the whole of the Tana Delta ecosystem, seems to have gone lower during the last 10-15 years, as annual flooding of Tana River does not occur any more, except during the El Niño rains of 1997-98.

Soils are young, from marine sedimental origin, and mostly have an important sand content (loamy sand, sandy loam, sandy clay loam etc). At the bottom of depressions, soils can be of medium or even heavy texture (clay, clay loam).

Population and land use The ranch itself is not inhabited, but the areas to its southern border and towards the southeast, are host to a number of large settlement schemes (Witu I and II, Mpeketoni). Land use – outside of the settlement schemes - is dominantly cattle rearing. Interestingly, the ranch itself owns few cattle (see next article by a representative of the Ranch Committee). These graze mostly in the southern tip of the ranch. The cattle population on the ranch varies according to the season, with a large number of Somali cattle coming in during dry spells.

In fact, the whole area, including the Delta, has been attracting more and more livestock due to the dry years the Horn of Africa has been experiencing recently. The pressure is high, as tens of thousands head of cattle converge from the dry hinterland upon the narrow coastal strip where rainfall is higher and vegetation greener. This year, before the rains finally came in May, many cattle were dying around Witu.

Inside the settlement schemes, families have been allocated plots of 10-15 acres, where they cultivate maize, simsim, cassava, groundnuts, cash crops like chillies and cotton, and perennials like bixa, mangoes, coconut palms, cashew, and, of late, also jatropha.

Another popular tree crop is casuarina.

View of Nyongoro Ranch with wooded grassland and the characteristic shape of a doum palm (Hyphaene compressa) in the middle

Miti July-September 2009

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School children in Pandanguo village enjoying a break. Immediately after the picture was taken, they scattered in all directions when a snake climbed down from the tree. But the snake didn’t survive for long

Cattle and goats walking towards a watering point on Nyongoro Ranch

Activities by Better Globe Forestry Ltd “God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools. “ John Muir

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Preliminary contacts between BGF and the ranch started as early as March 2007. Several site visits took place for assessment of the ranch and presenting BGF to the Ranch Committee in Witu. These working visits continue to take place, at an average of one per month.

Simultaneously, work related to the ownership documentation (search of survey report, etc) has been taking place in the Ministry of Lands in Nairobi. The district authorities and the line ministries (Livestock, Agriculture,

NEMA, KFS, KWS1) are kept informed, and a concept note was written to explain clearly the objectives of BGF. In short, BGF aims at creating a largescale plantation of Jatropha curcas on the ranch, with an important out-growers programme amounting all together to 30,000ha. In fact, only the creation of big plantations counts when it comes to biofuels.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in 2008, to provide for a working basis and mapping out the way forward.

This year, a modest pilot programme will start on the ground, with the establishment of a nursery and some plantations. This involves the drafting of an environmental impact assessment (EIA) to be approved by NEMA, and planning and budgeting for the operations this year.

In keeping with BGF’s policy, local residents will be given priority for employment, with a significant percentage of women, and ways will be sought to assist the community raise its standards of living The writer is the Executive Director, Better Globe Forestry Ltd. Email: jan@betterglobeforestry.com

1 Respectively, National Environmental Management Authority, Kenya Forest Service and Kenya Wildlife Service.

Miti July-September 2009

A worthy partnership

Witu/Nyongoro Ranch and Better Globe Forestry envision a better future

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By Ali Godana Dae

itu/Nyongoro Ranch was registered under the Companies Act in the early 1970s. A group of elders came together to guard the interests of livestock farmers, who are the majority in Witu Division. The ranch has a total area of 32,000 ha and the sole purpose then was to keep livestock for beef and milk.

The ranch is run by directors elected by the shareholders and a ranch manager seconded to it by the Ministry of Livestock Development.

In the early 1980s, the ranch served its purpose well with over 1,000 head of cattle, a four-wheel drive vehicle and an office with a ranch manager running it on a daily basis at its headquarters in Moa. The ranch used to supply beef to the Kenya Meat Commission’s Kibarani slaughterhouse in Mombasa. An Agricultural Finance Corporation loan and members’ shares made this possible. Currently, the ranch has close to 200 shareholders.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, misfortune befell the ranch. Bandits stole hundreds of cattle and officials mismanaged the ranch, leading to its collapse. As a result, the ranch was dormant for 15 years.

In mid 2003, shareholders thought it wise to call for an annual general meeting (AGM) to elect new officials and task them with reviving the ranch to its former glory.

The new officials came up with several suggestions to revive the ranch, including the possibility of partnering with investors to lease the land, exploiting wildlife cropping activities with individuals holding valid licences from the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and registering new members to boost the shares.

Meeting with the Ranch Committee. Clockwise: Jean-Paul Deprins, In 2004, the members Adan Guo, Abdullah Ijema, Ali Godana, Chief Abdi Boche, Chief Mzee, Bodole Barissa and son Swaleh harvested timber and sold it in the local market, directors of the Witu/Nyongoro ranch on a tour raising some revenue of BGF’s pilot project in Kiambere to see what which enabled the ranch to buy over 100 head their partners are doing. of cattle.

The ranch officials are in the process of putting Between 2005 to date, many investors their land ownership documents in order.

– including Matt International, Greenpower, BGF have shown their commitment to the Bedford, Coast Development Authority and partnership by advancing the ranch close to Better Globe Forestry (BGF) – have approached Ksh 400,000 for the payment of land rent and the ranch with proposals to lease the land for penalties accrued over the years. The difficult various activities. part remaining is to search for the survey plan/ After careful consideration, the report which is not in the systems record ranch officials signed a memorandum of both at the Ministry of Lands and the ranch understanding (MOU) with BGF in 2008, after records. which the two parties established a working When the issue of survey plans is sorted party and decided on activities to be carried out, the ranch documents will be completed out. and title deed issued to the ranch and finally Better Globe Forestry also took four a lease agreement will be entered into with Better Globe Forestry.

Both parties are in constant touch with the relevant government departments, briefing them on the steps taken so far, the two parties will do everything at their disposal to take an all-inclusive approach.

With the expected implementation of proposed projects by Better Globe Forestry, the ranch shareholders expect to benefit substantially in terms of revenue generated from leasing the land. The benefits include creation of employment opportunities for communities around the ranch area and provision of bursaries for bright needy students, renovations of schools and dispensaries, initiating water projects, micro-finance and assisting youth and women groups The writer is the Organising Secretary, Witu/Nyongoro Ranch

Signing of the MOU between Nyongoro Ranch and BGF. From left: Bwaha Kheri Said (Vice Chairman), Jean-Paul Deprins (MD of BGF), Abdullah Ijema (Chairman) and Hussein Sharif (member)

Miti July-September 2009

Email: a.godana@yahoo.com

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Multiplying the fruit

Scientists have started domesticating indigenous fruits in Kenyan drylands

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By James Kimondo

he contribution that domesticated indigenous fruit trees make to the livelihoods of Kenyan farmers is often not acknowledged in either national or international level poverty reduction strategies. Current agricultural data tend to be restricted to a narrow range of exotic fruits (e.g. mango, avocado and citrus).

Existing data on indigenous fruits are often not presented in the kind of income-related terms used in the policy debate, nor are they linked to simple policy recommendations.

This is especially so in East Africa in general and Kenya in particular where most indigenous fruits are only sold in local markets near their natural growing areas. The exceptions are Tamarindus indica and Adansonia digitata, (the tamarind and the baobab tree) to mention a few.

Vitex payos – kimuu in Kamba or muburu in Mbeere – is an important indigenous fruit tree that is found in Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi. In Kenya, it is found in Mwingi (Nzeluni, Nuu and Ngatani locations), Kitui (Ikanga, Mosa and Mbitini locations), Tharaka, Makueni and Taita Taveta. The tree grows in areas where no other tree can grow, like on rock outcrops, and therefore exploits niches where there is least competition with other land uses.

The fruits of kimuu are rich in vitamins and minerals. For example, the vitamin C content is approximately 260 µg g-1 dry weight, which is higher than that of oranges.

The fruits are plenty when in season but due to some cultural barriers, some sections of the communities with access to these fruits do not eat them.

In the past in Mbeere for instance, men considered the fruits as children’s food which men could not eat. For obvious reasons, the absence of pit latrines in the community in the past discouraged the older men from consuming these dark pulped fruits.

In Kitui and Mwingi, the fruits are sold in local markets in their natural state, unprocessed. However, in Tanzania, women groups process jam and juice from the fruits, thus extending their shelf-life.

As promotion of this fruit tree picked up, it was realised that the trees continue to decline on the farms, the only places where the trees can still be found in sufficient quantities. Through the financial support

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A healthy kimuu tree growing on a rock outcrop in the centre of a farm in Mwingi

of Leverhulme Trust of UK and Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI), James Kimondo, a researcher at KEFRI, initiated the domestication programme of this species while pursuing his PhD studies in April 2007.

The initial activities involved reviewing the traditional knowledge held by the Mbeere and Kamba communities on the use and management of Vitex payos.

This was done to determine the existing opportunities as entry points for farmer collaboration, and constraints that need resolution to enhance adoption of the species by farmers.

Long term observations of individual

trees were initiated to understand the phenology of the trees through making regular records of the status of the leaves, flowers and the fruits over the year. These observations are backed by weather recordings from the same areas to establish the relationship of the different climatic conditions and the overall phenological development of the tree and fruit production.

Farmers are at all times interested in the fruit production that can be realised from their efforts. This should be in the form of the quantities of fruits or any other produce that can be obtained from a single tree.

Miti July-September 2009

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Vitex payos, an indigenous fruit tree for drylands

Vitex payos fruits preserved on a sack in a room before taking to the market, in Yaathi Village, Ikanga, Kitui district

been identified with the collaboration of the farmers in the three districts for future provision of better germplasm. To achieve this, activities have been undertaken to evaluate the possibilities of grafting scions of the good trees onto rootstock of the same species.

In addition, trials have been started to root cuttings using simple technologies that farmers could easily adapt on the farm. So far, grafting has worked but the success rate is low. The grafted seedlings are already planted at the Kitui KEFRI Centre to determine how well they establish and how quickly they start fruiting The writer is a reseacher at KEFRI Email: jmkimondo59@yahoo.co.uk During the fruit season, Vitex payos fruits compete with other traditional fruits in the market.

Ikanga market, Kitui district

Sampling of trees was carried out in the cultivated, fallow and bush lands, and the total number of fruits was obtained by counting. This revealed that a single tree can produce an average of 5,700, 5,100 and 3,600 fruits in Mwingi, Kitui and Mbeere district respectively. It was not unusual to get a tree with over 20,000 fruits, thus the need for deliberate effort to select trees with specific traits such as high fruit production for future planting.

While the Mwingi site was better than Kitui with slightly higher rainfall, the Mbeere trees were pruned excessively as people do not fully appreciate the trees. In the Mwingi and Kitui local markets, a cup of fruits sells for between Ksh 3 and Ksh 5. (1US $= Ksh 81, March 20, 2009), while a bucket of the same goes for between Ksh 80 and Ksh 150, depending on the distance from the market

Miti July-September 2009

and the mode of transport available in the area.

During the 2008 fruit season, demonstrations of jam making were carried out in Mbeere, Mwingi and Kitui, highlighting the possibilities of utilising the fruits with minimal inputs.

The separation of pulp and the nut was the most challenging procedure as the pulp is sticky when fresh and the nuts have a hairy surface. Plans are however at an advanced stage to fabricate a manually operated machine to hasten the depulping of the fruits to upscale the jam preparation on the farms.

In the field, fruits vary in taste, size and the productivity of individual trees. These attributes determine how well the fruits are appreciated by the consumers. In the study areas, high quality or “superior” trees have

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“A tree uses what comes its way to nurture itself. By sinking its roots deeply into the earth, by accepting the rain that flows towards it, by reaching out to the sun, the tree perfects its character and becomes great. ... Absorb, absorb, absorb. That is the secret of the tree.”

Deng Ming-Dao, Everyday Tao

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A major pillar of Lamu’s economy Mangroves are an important resource in the archipelago, and deserve more attention

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By Jan Vandenabeele

angrove forests are very high in the list of Lamu’s natural resources. They help to preserve some of the islands against erosion by the ocean’s currents; the strange ecosystem formed by their roots breeds crustaceans that are transformed into delicious food in restaurants that cater for tourists; and the poles supply building material for most of the local buildings. In short, Lamu would not be Lamu without its mangrove forests.

An estimated 67 per cent of Kenya’s mangroves grow in the Lamu archipelago, and this is about 36,000ha or 360km2. The use of mangrove products is an old tradition in Lamu. The trees are utilised for both wood and non-wood products like hosting beehives for honey. The wood is not only used for building but also for firewood, charcoal and fish traps.

The mangroves themselves are not a homogeneous forest as they appear from the sky, but vary according to the species (see table) and the local circumstances like depth and salinity of the water and type of soil.

In Lamu district, there is a cooperative of mangrove traders with eight members, though three are believed to have stopped

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Species

Swahili name

Use and remarks

Rhizophora mucronata

Mkoko

Supplies most of the mangrove wood used for boat building, poles and superior charcoal

Ceriops tagal

Mkandaa

Also a dominant species for firewood, charcoal, poles and tannins

Brugueria gymnorrhiza

Muia

Avicennia marina Sonneratia alba

Mchu Mlilana

For firewood, charcoal and poles. It grows on less exposed parts of the beach For dhow ribs and for lime burning For dhow ribs, firewood and poles

business. They are all registered with the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and licensed for exploitation of mangroves. Abdrehman Aboud Lali represents them in the Forest Conservation Committee of Coast Province.

Mangrove trading is an important activity, with poles being felled around the islands, then being transported by dhow to either Lamu town or the jetty of Mokowe on the mainland for further transport to Mombasa, which is the main market.

KFS regulates the harvesting, through licensing procedures and recommendations of harvesting but has no clear control despite the presence of forest guards on major settlements on the islands. Joseph Maina, the District Forest Officer (DFO), explains the different categories of poles, according to size, and the royalties imposed

by KFS. Of late, the royalties have increased, and the traders who have to pass these

charges to the consumer, are complaining this will put them out of business. They have come forward with their own proposal, still up from previous levels. As table 1 on the facing page shows, there exists quite a difference of opinion about the level of payment to the government.

KFS registered the figure of 200 scores of poles transported to Mombasa for April 2009, but this is more likely to be 500 or more in the high season (which is equivalent to 10 lorries). Local consumption is however said to be more important. The DFO does not see the mangroves as threatened, but is of the opinion that the community gains more from the indirect benefits like anti-erosion, breeding grounds and eco-tourism than from direct exploitation.

The boriti transported to Mombasa are smaller than those sold in Lamu, with prices (before the new royalty rates) of Ksh 110 per

Miti July-September 2009

Pole category

Size (cm at butt)

Royalty*

Proposal+

Difference (%)

Remarks

Fitto

<4

60

50

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Usually young R. Mucronata and C. Tagal

Pau Mazio Boriti

4.1 – 6 6.1 – 9 9.1 – 13

200 400 500

150 260 420

25 35 36

Same species Commonly used size Same species, most commonly used size

Nguzo

13.1 – 20

600

500

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Produced by trees Approx 8 yrs old

Banaa

20.1 – 35

750

-

-

Mature R. mucronata and B. gymnorrhiza mature B. gymnorriza

techniques, seems to be quite inadequate.

Going back to history, Mr Lali remembers that in colonial times, there was a kind of rotation regulated by the colonial forest service, for felling mangroves. But, clearly, there were also abusive practices; like clearcutting for tannin extraction on a large scale by an export company owned by a German (1920-30) or by the Kenya Calcium Products

Sustainability of mangrove pole exploitation Item

Cost (Ksh) per score

Remark

New royalty rate Felling and transport to jetty

500 1,300

To be paid to KFS

Transport to Mombasa

300

One lorry transports 50 scores

Cess, County Council

50

Transport permit, KFS

50

One permit / lorry ~ Ksh 1000

Harassment at roadblocks

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Estimate apprx 7 – 8 roadblocks

TOTAL COST DELIVERED IN MOMBASA

2,216

This is Ksh 111 per boriti

Mangrove trees during low tide, showing their stilt roots. The small sticks poking out of the tidal mud are also roots, helping the tree to breathe (absorbing oxygen)

piece for the Mombasa size and Ksh 150 per piece for the Lamu size.

In fact, felling and transport to Lamu of a score of “Lamu boriti” comes to Ksh 2,500.

After adding the royalty of Ksh 500, the total cost comes to Ksh 3,000 or Ksh 150 per piece, leaving no profit for the trader. Buyers are resisting the introduction of a higher price of Ksh 175.

There is a feeling that the high royalty rates are an attempt by the government to protect and conserve mangroves and to encourage the substitution of mangrove poles with casuarina poles. Plantations of casuarina are coming up in Lamu District, planted at close spacing (1mx1m) and quite visible along the Witu-Lamu road.

However, since the 1982 Presidential ban on logging of mangrove poles for export, Lamu residents are very suspicious of

Miti July-September 2009

every move taken by the government. The ban was justified on grounds of reducing overexploitation, degradation and loss of mangroves. Indeed, historically, Lamu was exporting high volumes of mangrove poles to Arab countries. A statistic mentioned by Gang P et al1, cites an annual average of 24,150 scores of mangrove poles for export from the Lamu forests. It might be a conservative figure and was eventually much higher, as Mr Lali mentions the high volumes of scores that Lamu used to export.

And what would have been the impact on the mangroves? This is difficult to judge, after all these years. Even now, knowledge of mangrove ecosystems is very scanty, and essential silvicultural information on growth rates, yield, natural regeneration and management, including reafforestation

A 12-year old plantation can count about 2,700 mazio and boriti per hectare. With the total area of Lamu’s mangroves factored at 36,000ha (and that includes protected areas like Kiunga Marine National Reserve), and at a rotation of 20 years, each year 1,800ha would be accessible for felling while the remainder would stay untouched. This area would contain an estimated standing stock of 4.86m poles of these two sizes, not considering the other sizes. (This rotation age is based on the observation that 20-25 year-old banaa trees often become hollow through insect attacks, a sign of senility. Source Mr Lali.)

This would be the potential annual production of Lamu’s mangroves, on a sustainable basis.

Annual felling of 241,500 scores or 4,830,000 poles - ten times the export figure mentioned - would represent the cutting of 99 per cent of standing stock.

Of course, these calculations are very crude and oversimplified, but they highlight the potential and the limitations of mangroves for pole production.

According to Mr Lali, felling in the islands is selective and scattered in nature, so that its impact is negligible. However, it risks leaving behind crooked poles of poorer quality, hence progressively degrading the quality of the forest. Fellers work with hand tools and no power saws, recognising that mangroves are highly sensitive to oil pollution.

In a larger context, more significant threats to mangrove exploitation and its existence might be the proposed construction of a major deep water port in Lamu and related dredging works and pollution (oil spills) by ocean going vessels.

Salt exploitation, like around Ngomeni, has decimated mangrove forests in its vicinity, directly by destroying the mangrove forest, and indirectly through increased salinity.

In addition, a rise in the sea level, brought about by global warming, will push back the mangrove forests.

1 Gang P, Kiama D and Roimen HP. Mangroves. Mazingira News, Apr/Jun 2008, p.13

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for firewood for their kilns to produce calcium out of coral stone. It seems that mangroves were destroyed, but the practice was more prevalent in other coastal areas, like Mombasa and the south coast.

Using data on stems per hectare published by a Kenyan mangrove specialist, Dr Kairo 2, the above export figure does not seem to be very high, representing potentially 10 per cent of a sustainable felling rate. However the real export figures are most likely much higher so that sustainability might be questioned. (see box on previous page).

The Presidential order was eventually revoked in 2003 to allow exploitation on a more modest level, so that local communities could use mangrove products for their domestic needs and local trade could resume.

Tourist resorts are important consumers of mangrove poles. They repair structures, notably makuti roofs, during the low tourist season. In Lamu town, the roofs of almost all houses are supported by mangrove poles –boriti - as steel would quickly rust due to the saline nature of the sand mixed with cement.

Mr Lali estimates that some 2,000 people - 20 of them his employees - make a living from felling mangrove poles. The figure is down from the years before the ban, 2 Kairo JG. Structural development and productivity of replanted mangrove plantations in Kenya. 2006. Alcoa Foundation. Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute.

“Pau” mangrove poles are used in the construction of traditional makuti roofs at the coast.

However, casuarina poles can be used for the same purpose

when even women felled poles to supply the ships going to Arab countries. Mr Lali estimates that his fellers produce 20 scores or 400 poles of boriti every 10 days. This includes selection, actual felling, immediate debarking and carrying towards a central collection point where a dhow loads the poles. That figure would go up significantly if the fellers worked without selection, having to search for suitable poles.

According to the figures supplied by the DFO, that represents a value of Ksh 26,000.

As two-thirds of this goes to the feller and one-third to the transporter, this means that

a feller would make about Ksh 2,600 per month. In fact, on several islands, mangroves are the lifeblood of the local economy.

It is abundantly clear that mangroves continue to fulfil an important role in Lamu district, ecologically, economically and socially. It is however not clear how they are managed as there is no organised management system. Considering their importance, mangroves deserve more attention and investment The writer is the Executive Director, Better Globe Forestry Ltd Email: jan@betterglobeforestry.com

Mangrove poles of a size called “boriti” at Mokowe jetty, Lamu, waiting for transport to Mombasa

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Miti July-September 2009

A long-term vision NFA and World Vision to plant 13 million trees

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By Moses W. Watasa

he National Forestry Authority (NFA) and World Vision Uganda in October 2008 launched a national re-forestation campaign under which 13 million trees are to be planted in different parts of Uganda within three years.

The campaign was launched at a ceremony in Nakasongola district, with 10,000 different species of trees planted along the bare hills near the town. Two thousand fruit trees were also planted under the theme; “Trees for Health and Wealth”.

In a speech delivered by the NFA Board Chairman, Matia Baguma Isoke, the Minister for Water and Environment, Maria Mutagamba, noted that the initiative by NFA and World Vision would significantly improve forest cover in Uganda. “This campaign will be a significant contribution towards reversing the consistent degradation which has seen the forest cover in Uganda decline from 25 per cent to 20 per cent of the land area over the last decade,” she said.

The minister hailed the choice of Nakasongola district for launching the campaign. “Nakasongola used to be one of the highly forested districts in Uganda but has suffered a high rate of tree-cutting and deforestation over the last decade particularly due to high production of charcoal. It is therefore an appropriate location for kick-starting the programme,”

NFA Board Chairman, Matia Baguma Isoke, leads the way by planting a ceremonial seedling at Nakasongola, during the launch of tree planting initiative

she noted.

Hon. Mutagamba thanked World Vision for supporting efforts for restoring the environment. “I salute World Vision for committing resources towards planting trees and improving the environment. This will contribute towards poverty reduction and a safer world,” she said.

The minister threatened to arrest people found cutting trees planted under the campaign.

“To ensure that these noble efforts are not in vain, I am calling upon the Uganda police force and local leaders to arrest and prosecute any wrong elements found destroying these trees.”

NFA Executive Director, Damian Akankwasa said planting of indigenous trees would be given priority. “Mvule and mahogany are for example facing extinction in some parts of Uganda. Under this programme we shall endeavour to plant many of such ingenious species,” he said.

World Vision Country Representative, Rudo Kwaramba, said a better world for children could not be achieved if the environment is persistently degraded. “While our work focuses mainly on fostering a better and fair world for children, this cannot be achieved if the environment is degraded.

We are therefore looking at a sustainable partnership with NFA to restore green cover in this country,” she said.

Under the partnership, World Vision will procure high-quality tree seedlings from NFA at subsidised rates. NFA will offer technical support for planting and maintaining the trees. The planting sites will include forest reserves, communities, schools, churches, military barracks and along roads The writer is the Public Relations Manager, National Forestry Authority, Uganda.

Email: Mosesw@nfa.org.ug

“A better world cannot be achieved if the enviroment is persistently degraded”

Miti July-September 2009

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Where is the money?

A comparison of profitability between crops and tree cultivation in the south eastern drylands of Kenya

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the crops, the top three profitable ones the absolute poverty line estimated at Ksh rylands are difficult environused were pigeon peas, green grams and 14,868 per person per annum. ments, and people who live there maize with VCR values of 2.62, 2.54 and In trying to meet their economic ends, operate behind a background of 1.44, respectively. The top three woodlot smallholder farmers in the region are biological, social and economic species used were Melia volkensii (mukau), engaged in different farm activities. The impediments. Indeed, questions have often Eucalyptus spp and Dalbergia melanoxylon farmers grow crops and trees to supplement been posed as to whether anything good (mpingo) with VCR values of 2.99, 2.85 and returns from the main rangeland activities can come from the drylands. This is clearly 0.85, respectively. Finally, the top three fruits like livestock rearing. The range of crops demonstrated by the paltry budgetary alused were pawpaws, mangoes and guavas grown is wide and varied, depending on locations made by the government to such with VCR values of 7.63, 6.62 and 4.10, the need and preference of the farmer. The environments. respectively. most common trees under production are Drylands are the most remote parts of the country with The following table gives a good overview of the different categories: poor transport, information and Crops VCR Tree species VCR VCR Fruit species communication infrastructure.

Pigeon peas 2.62 Mukau 2.99 Pawpaw 7.63 Such areas form Kenyaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s backwaters and once in the wetter Green grams 2.54 Eucalypts 2.85 Mango 6.62 parts of the country, people Maize 1.44 Mpingo 0.85 Guava 4.10 often crack jokes that they are now in Kenya.

The human population growth rate in However, one has to be cautious in the for fruit and timber/pole production. To help the drylands is one of the highest in the interpretation of the results; a fruit species farmers make decisions on the enterprises in country. The population of Makueni District, like pawpaw, with apparently the highest which to engage, Wekesa et al (2004) used which is one of the south eastern drylands value cost ratio, is arguably the biggest value costs ratios (VCRs) to demonstrate districts, increased from 190,631 in 1948 consumer of water and less of a dryland profitability of crops and trees commonly to 670,359 in 1989 with an annual growth species than mango and guava. The other grown in the south eastern drylands districts rate of over 6 per cent. Such high human extreme, mpingo, supplies an extremely of Kajiado and Makueni. As a rule of thumb, population in the drylands has resulted in a valuable timber marketable at US$ 10,000/ a VCR of 2.0 was considered the minimum reduced resource base, precipitating food m3, but is a very slow grower. acceptable worthwhile rate of return. This insecurity and poverty, which are rampant. means that for every one unit invested in Moreover, in an area like southern The estimates of average annual farm production, the farmer is able to recover it Makueni (Masongaleni, Mtito Andei); income for a household with an average and also earn another unit as profit. eucalypts might die-back during a couple family size of five in the Ukambani districts, The VCR values for the top three of dry years so that their value decreases for example, is Ksh 69,820 per annum. This enterprises in each category were averaged drastically. In similar circumstances, mangoes gives an annual income level of Ksh 13,964 and used to compare profitability of crops will need additional watering to avoid per person. Such income level is below and trees on such smallholdings. Among abortion of its fruits due to drought. Growth

By Linus Wekesa

This is how a well-tended maize stand in ASAL can look (photo left, in Emali, Makueni District), but more often it will look like this (photo right, around Mumoni hills, Mwingi District)

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Miti July-September 2009

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A well managed Melia (mukau) woodlot in Kibwezi

of mukau and mpingo will simply stagnate and afterwards continue.

As species that provide a buffer against climatic variations and rainfall vagaries, this leaves pigeon peas, green grams, mukau and guavas as the most risk-free.

The results of the average VCR for the trees and crops are illustrated in Fig 3. The fruit trees had the highest VCR. The average VCR for the top three profitable fruit trees was 6.12, implying that one is able to recover the cost of investment in fruit production by year six and make a profit of 5.12. The top three profitable high value woodlot tree species had an average VCR value of 2.23, resulting in a profit of 1.23. The top three crops had an average VCR value of 2.20, resulting in a profit of 1.20.

Fruit production in the region was quite profitable, possibly because of their high yields and high producer prices. The fruits were of high quality and in demand both at the local and export markets. The poor performance of crops in profitability could be due to the low yields as a result of

A pawpaw plantation in ASAL. The picture was taken during the rainy season. During the long dry spell, the pawpaws will not yield much

declining soil fertility, poor producer prices and high costs of production.

The legumes were more profitable than the cereals. This was due to their high producer prices because of high demand in the market. In addition, legumes take a shorter time to mature, thus utilising the scarce rains to give good yields. Bulrush millet had the highest cost of production, making it the most unprofitable crop because of the labour required to scare birds away while the crop is in the field.

In conclusion, the study observed that fruit production is the most profitable enterprise among trees and crops on smallholder farms in the south eastern drylands. The fruits were profitable at all stages of tree growth on the farm compared to crops and woodlot tree species. The most profitable fruit trees were pawpaws and mangoes because of their high yields and quality fruits. This was followed by high value woodlot tree species whose profitability increased with years of tree growth.

The most profitable woodlot tree species

were mukau and eucalypts (E. camaldulensis and E. tereticornis). At over six years of age, the woodlot tree species were more profitable than the crops commonly grown in the area. However, during the initial years of production, crops were more profitable than woodlot tree species.

Based on the above observations, it was recommended that farmers be encouraged to engage in tree production to help diversify and optimise their incomes. The highly recommended trees for smallholder farmers were pawpaws and mangoes for fruit production, and mukau and eucalypts (E. camaldulensis and E. tereticornis) for timber and pole production. The recommended profitable crops were pigeon peas, green grams and maize

The writer is a Socio-Economist working with the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI). He is currently based at Karura Forest Products Research Centre.

Email:weknus@yahoo.com

Caught in the act

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frican blackwood, also called ebony or mpingo (Dalbergia melanoxylon), transported on a donkey cart in the Makueni District countryside. Note the small diameter of the poles, and their dark inner side, which is the valuable part of the wood, much coveted for making carvings and parts for musical instruments (mouthpiece of flutes etc). Even such small poles take a long time to grow, the reason for their low VCR values (see main article).

In this case, the load was confiscated by the DFO because of its illegal nature. There was no transport permit and the tree is protected in Kenya and cannot be cut freely.

There isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t much African blackwood of appreciable size left in Kenya. There is still some in Tanzania and Mozambique, where the Makonde people use it for their well-known wood carvings. However, even in Tanzania, it is diminishing

Miti July-September 2009

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Bwanamkuu Hajji, boat builder in Lamu town, and the shed where he works, on the Lamu town waterfront

Rooted in the past The master dhow-builders of Lamu still going strong as they pass their skill from generation to generation

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By Jan Vandenabeele

hows continue to be the workhorses of the sea in the Lamu archipelago. An estimated 30 master craftsmen still possess the technical skills to make these boats, according to a design that hasn’t changed much for centuries, except for the inclusion of a diesel engine if required. Otherwise, wind is still the power of choice.

Bwanamkuu Hajji, a Lamu island resident, exercises his craft on the Lamu town waterfront. He acquired his skills from his father, and has now built boats for 35 years, still using the same techniques. Apparently, getting the wood is not a problem; one only requires a transportation permit from the District Forest Officer (DFO).

Mr Hajji uses different timber species, like mangati (Terminalia spinosa), mlilana (Sonneratia alba), mbambakofi (Afzelia

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quanzensis) and others. However, any hardwood will do, even eucalypt and neem.

But long pieces of timber (40ft) are not available any more. Lengths of 20ft are more common nowadays.

Holes for nails are hand drilled, and once the nails have been put, cotton wool is carefully inserted to avoid leakage.

Replacement and some repairs will be necessary after a couple of years of sailing.

Bending the timbers to give the dhow its characteristic curves is a delicate job, done “on the eye”. Mr Hajji greases the wood with oil, heats it with firewood and then puts it under pressure to get the required angle.

He works alone, occasionally hiring some workers when the need arises. He can build one to two boats a year comfortably, even three when he has assistance. The boat he was building at the time the Miti team visited, a dhow some 7m (24ft) long, with a

capacity for transporting a load of 5-6tonnes (60 bags of 90kg) will be valued at Ksh 400,000 to 500,000 when finished. This one, however, will not be for sale but for his own use.

As usual, the launch of the boat will be celebrated with slaughtering a goat and a little festivity. This is fully justified, after months of hard work and for a boat with a life span of 40 to 50 years if properly maintained. From the look of things, boat building is not a bad business. Hajji is teaching his craft to his three sons, a sign of confidence.

There are young boat-builders as well.

Twenty-three-year-old Mohammed Athman is one. Originally from Faza, Mr Athman learnt the skill from his grandfather while the young man was still in school. Mr Athman however sees his future as both a boatbuilder and a trader in mangrove poles,

Miti July-September 2009

cleverly integrating his boatbuilding skills with knowledge on the trade in poles.

By coincidence, just like in Mr Hajji’s case, the vessel that Mr Athman was building at the time the Miti team met him will not be for sale, but for his own use. He will use it to transport mangrove poles. The dhow, some 7m long, will have a capacity for carrying 20 - 23 scores (400 - 460 poles) of boriti (thick mangrove poles). With a boriti selling at Ksh 150, the total load will have a retail value of Ksh 60,000 - 69,000.

It is common practice in the archipelago to share the value of a boatload of mangrove poles between the fellers and the boat owner at the rate of two-thirds and one-third respectively. That means Mohammed Athman, a younger generation of boat builders. This dhow, 7.3m long, will be used for transporting mangrove poles that for every full load transported in Mr Athman’s boat, the fellers However, some of the oil accumulates in the with engines being imported from places make Ksh 17,300-19,900 while he makes Ksh like Dubai, reputedly where good quality can lowest part of the boat, exactly where the 8,700-9,600 out of which he has to pay the engineer has to work to place and fix the be obtained for a reasonable price. When boat crew of five to seven men. The people engine … not imported from outside the country tell us that a lot of money on Shela island According to Mr Athman, the biggest engines come from Mombasa or Nairobi. traces its origin back to the time of the Arab problem faced by boat-builders is startThis immediately adds some Ksh 120,000 wood trade (see article on mangroves on up capital. Otherwise, just like Mr Hajji, he to the price of a boat, on condition that the page 18). Again, they talk with nostalgia of reckons he makes a good living out of his “engineer” has done a good job and fitted the times of unlimited exploitation, before craft. Neither of them seems stressed, and an engine with appropriate power (12the Presidential ban on mangrove logging in the work goes on in a relaxed atmosphere.

15HP). A more powerful engine could result 1982, when big dhows from Arab countries But then, there doesn’t seem to be much in vibrations that might damage a boat’s converged on Lamu for mangrove poles. stress on Lamu island timber joints.

The Lamu boat-builders also make An important ingredient for the smaller-sized vessels for fishing. These The writer is the Executive Director, Better Globe preservation of the timber is shark oil. To are normally 12 - 15ft long (3.6 - 4.5m).

Forestry Ltd Email: jan@betterglobeforestry.com make the oil, the shark’s intestines, guts and The different islands and locations in the all organs are cut into pieces. The pieces Lamu archipelago specialise in different are then pressed and placed in a closed occupations. For example, 90 per cent of the container for some six months, after which people of Faza and Kilitini depend on fishing, the oil is ready for use. But it smells. In fact, it while mangrove pole exploitation is the main The inside of Mohammed’s dhow, a work in stinks so much that its use on Lamu island is occupation for 50 per cent of the people of progress. Maybe the most delicate work is to Mbwejul and 80 per cent of the people of forbidden by law. So, to get around this, the give the exact curves to the ribs of the dhow, Dau. oil is applied on the timber outside Lamu and afterwards balancing the boat so it The Lamu boat-makers also make a more island. The timber sucks in the oil and this doesn’t tilt in the water luxurious craft, often for use in the tourism preserves it for a long industry. However, the number of boats, or time. fishermen or pole transporters for that matter, is hardly increasing. Most of the boats are simply replacements of older crafts.

A modern twist to the traditional knowledge is the inclusion of a diesel engine. Globalisation has reached Lamu, Some Swahili boat-building terms Bitana – the boat skeleton Mlii wa ono – the fore section of the boat Mlii wa tesi – the aft section of the boat Turusi – the upper part of the aft Taruma – the boat ribs

Miti July-September 2009

A shallow well at the river edge, beside the sand dam. Through seepage, it will attract water held by the sand dam, which is then pumped through solar power (see the elevated solar panel) to a tank on higher ground. There it will be used for drip irrigation of both tree seedlings and vegetables.

A seasonal river with a sand dam on the land of Nyumbani Village, Kitui District. It is expected to hold sand that in turn will hold water underneath.

An oasis of hope

Nyumbani Village is not only changing the lives of AIDS-orphaned children but also greening the countryside

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By Wanjiru Ciira

hen faced with a difficult situation, we could opt to sit back and depend on handouts or do something about our situation. An example of the latter is found at Nyumbani Village, situated in Mikuyuni, Kitui West District, in Eastern Province of Kenya.

The area is categorised as arid and semi-arid (ASAL), receiving roughly 700mm of rainfall a year, with most of the rains coming in November-December, and some unreliable rainfall in April-May. It is a low-potential area agriculturally and experiences long periods of drought with many people in the area depending on relief food. However, with the water management system that Nyumbani Village has introduced in the area, this will no longer be the case.

Nyumbani Village has introduced sand dams into Mikuyuni area, building seven dams across a seasonal river. The dams extend laterally on both sides of the river for

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a few feet. The theory is that water caught in the sand behind the dam is held in the soil, but when the soil becomes saturated, the dam allows the moisture to seep out to the land on each side of the seasonal river.

“In effect, this loads the sand on both sides of the river bend,” says Nicholas Syano, Programme Manager, Nyumbani Village. Sure enough, at the time the Miti team visited the village in mid-May, the area around the sand dams was green with vegetation, in contrast to the surrounding area and despite the fact that the riverbed was dry.

Shallow wells, situated next to the riverbed, capture the water which is pumped through solar power to plastic tanks with a capacity of 5m3. From there, it is used for drip irrigation, both for tree and vegetable growing. Two additional boreholes that run on diesel generators supplement the water trapped behind the sand dams.

Nyumbani Village has planted indigenous trees - Acacia polycantha and Melia volkensii (mukau) near the sand dams. The acacias,

2-3 years old, are currently used for firewood, while the mukau will be felled for timber after 8-10 years. An interesting concept is to grow some vegetables around each irrigated tree seedling, so that the trees benefit from continuous cultivation.

Langstroth hives, with ready colonies of honeybees (purchased from the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology - ICIPE), pollinate the vegetables and collect honey in the process. Nyumbani Village has its own honey extractor and packages its own honey.

Opened in late 2006, Nyumbani Village, an offshoot of Nyumbani Home in Karen, Nairobi, is a project of the Children of God Relief Institute. Currently, the village is home to 448 children, 47 grandparents and has a staff of 53.

The concept to start Nyumbani Village originated from the need to provide a family atmosphere for AIDS orphaned children who were already being cared for by elders, grandmothers and grandfathers in the area.

Miti July-September 2009

aside land where the members of A committee comprising the the Nyumbani Organic Outgrowers chief or assistant chief, village group from the surrounding elders, Nyumbani social workers community grow organic vegetables and religious leaders does on small, individual plots of irrigated the selection for admission to land. The members of the group Nyumbani. are free to cultivate vegetables on Set on 1,000 acres (400ha) of as much land as they can manage. land, provided by the Catholic “Here you are only limited by your Diocese of Kitui, Nyumbani Village energy,” says Ms Mutua. stands apart from other homes Most of the harvests go directly for orphaned children. It keeps to feed their families, some helps the children in a family setting, feed the Nyumbani Village and a with their “own” homes. They live growing portion is sold in Nairobi. in their own houses, cultivate A typical house built for the AIDS orphans in Nyumbani Village.

Construction is affordable thanks to the use of “Hydraform” The growers receive land, seedlings, their own parcels of land and interlocking bricks that allow sparing use of cement advice, and of course, water. In prepare their own meals just like exchange they agree to follow they would in any other village. organic farming practices. Not only Nyumbani has moved away does the village benefit from the from the usual idea of confining food and improvement of the land, children in an institution with a but the plots are also located around centralised authority to watch the village perimeter, which creates over them, living in dormitories. a working boundary of organic Here, children live together with gardens that defend the village from their guardians as if in a real family grazing herds, pests and would-be set-up, interacting with their poachers. neighbours in the shared facilities.

The village residents have learnt Under these circumstances, to make stabilised, interlocking the village needed to grow its earth bricks for construction of own trees. Each household uses all the structures in the village. firewood or charcoal for cooking.

The technology has spread to the “We also need to grow trees as a Acacia polyacantha grown in an agroforestry design with surrounding community, effectively source of long term income from vegetables. These acacias, barely three years old, are ready for changing the appearance of the the sale of timber and non-timber exploitation as firewood and even charcoal. land. These bricks contain about products,” says Mr Syano.

5 per cent cement, and through Nyumbani Village is also aware Nyumbani is an organic village and uses their interlocking form, almost do not need of the need to protect the degraded and human manure from its own processing cement to build a wall. fragile dryland environment, and grows unit. To deal with cases of mildew, they use “Nyumbani village is providing an trees to provide a learning model for both ash from firewood. “And it has worked,” says innovative and replicable model which can the surrounding community and the people Nancy Mutua, who keeps records in the be a creative answer to caring for subliving in the village.

Sustainability Department.

Saharan Africa’s millions of orphans, ” says Mr So far, the village has cleared 50 acres Aware of the fact that income from trees Syano.

One might add, it is also greening the for tree planting and 27,800 seedlings of M. will take at least eight years to realise, and surrounding area volkensii have been planted. The seedlings driven by a need to meet the daily needs of are watered by drip irrigation three times a the inhabitants, the management in 2007 The writer is the Managing Editor of Miti week with water from a borehole pumped introduced vegetable farming magazine. by solar panels.

The Nyumbani management has set Email: wanjiru@mitiafrica.com

Woodlands 2000 Trust

Working with Nyumbani for the good of the community

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n 1980, The Tamarind Group initiated a project to develop commercial wood lots in arid areas.

The project, formalised in 2001 as The Woodlands 2000 Trust, had seen over 700,000 trees planted by 2006.

More recently, the Woodland 2000 Trust has been developing, amongst other projects, a selfsustainability programme at Nyumbani Village in Kitui District.

The Woodlands Trust’s role at Nyumbani has been to develop an agricultural and forestry model that would be sustainable for the village and benefit the local community. Based on the shamba system, trees and crops have been planted in conjunction with the surrounding local community in order to provide food, fodder, fuel and building materials for the near future

“Plant trees. They give us two of the most crucial elements for our survival: oxygen and books. “ A. Whitney Brown

(www. Woodlands2000trust.org, contact woodlands@tamarind.co.ke)

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SPGS staff giving advice to a private Ugandan farmer

Gold is turning

Farmers are discovering tree planting as a means of making money

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By Moses Watasa

ree farming is being firmly established as an investment venture with enticing medium and long-term returns. Accordingly, Uganda’s National Forestry Authority (NFA) is encouraging people to invest in the sector. For instance, forest-adjacent communities are embracing opportunities for boundary tree planting for income enhancement. They also remain eligible for further planting concessions on at least 5 per cent of neighbouring forest reserves upon resumption of issuing planting licences after the on-going review.

NFA is also encouraging people with”free land” to go into tree farming, a venture in

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which maintenance costs drop significantly over time. The initial cost of establishing 1 hectare (2.5 acres) of pine and eucalyptus, for example, is about Ush 1.7 million (Ush 28 =Ksh 1) while maintenance costs, i.e. weeding, spraying and pruning, reduce to almost zero by the sixth year. Thereafter, apart from preventing fires and possible tree theft, plantations grow naturally until maturity in most parts of Uganda.

The potential of a plantation’s returns appreciates steadily until maturity in about 20 years. At the current prices, 1 hectare (2.5 acres) of pine or eucalyptus would fetch Ushs 10 million, 15 million and 25 million after 10, 15 and 20 years respectively. A farmer who

invests Ushs 17 million in a 10-hectare pine or eucalyptus plantation would rake in at least Ushs 250 million after 20 years.

Communities and individuals around Budongo, Bugoma and Kasana-Kasambya and forest reserves who planted fast-growing species like eucalyptus along boundaries have been amazed at their returns. Some have regretted having planted”just a few trees”.

Around Uganda, larger-scale farmers are planting trees. Some are beneficiaries of the European-Union supported Saw-Log Production Grant Scheme (SPGS) that aids private tree farming to plug future gaps in wood produce and ease pressure on forest

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A private grower’s three-year- old Pinus caribaea, plantation from improved seeds imported from Australia

“People who will not sustain trees will soon live in a world which cannot sustain people.”

Bryce Nelson

reserves. Subsidies like these, in a country with fertile soils and a good climate, present immense possibilities.

However, maximising returns from tree farming requires adherence to some basics, central to which is quality seedlings. A number of tree farmers have complained to NFA about their failing crop, years after planting seedlings of suspicious quality from ”street-side” sellers with questionable technical credentials. Considering that investing in trees is long-term and calls for discretion, NFA has consistently recommended the National Tree Seed Centre (NTSC) as one of the sources of genuine seedlings.

When planting, the size and depth of pits and tree spacing should be appropriate, depending on the species. Adequate

Miti July-September 2009

spacing gives trees sufficient space and light to grow with straight stems that guarantee high yields. Planting in straight lines eases secondary operations like weeding, pruning and harvesting.

In Uganda, the rising prices for wood products are largely attributed to high demand, currently out-stripping supply by about 15 per cent. Unsustainable tree-felling on private land, increasing demand for power transmission poles, fuel-wood needs of a fast-growing population and a run-away construction sector imply that demand (and prices) for trees and wood products will soar in the next decade.

Besides proceeds from direct sales, tree farming is set for handsome earnings under the global carbon credits initiative for mitigating climate change. Western

industrialised countries are offsetting their greenhouse gas emissions by paying for “green cover” in developing countries. In Uganda, the carbon-financing scheme has been piloted and a few tree farmers with an eye on the proceedings have already pocketed cash.

Our message under NFA’s national treeplanting campaign is: “The best time to plant trees was twenty years ago. The next time is today.” Our theme is: “Trees are for Health and Wealth”, health because they give us oxygen and a liveable environment and wealth because gold is”turning green”!

The writer is the Public Relations Manager, National Forestry Authority Email: mosesw@nfa.org.ug

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interferes with its natural regeneration and is thus is not sustainable. Therefore, conservation and domestication of this tree should be taken seriously.

Demand for East African sandalwood has been fuelled by a search for an alternative to the diminishing resource of the Indian sandalwood. Since the Sultan of Mysore declared it a royal tree in 1792, Indian sandalwood (Santalum album) resources have dwindled and the prices skyrocketed.

Trade has now shifted to Australian and East African sandalwood.

In 2006, the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) embarked on research on domestication and cultivation of the East African sandalwood. Tremendous success in the propagation of sandalwood has been recorded ever since, in spite of various constraints faced due to lack of understanding of its silvicultural requirements. See d germination was found to be low and highly variable between individual trees and at times could take up to six months. Sandalwoods grow slowly and develop a core of heartwood gradually. This only accelerates when trees are about 20 years old.

Research at KEFRI has generated knowledge that will support propagation, cultivation and commercialisation of East African sandalwood.

A useful parasite

The East African sandalwood has potential as a cash crop

By J. Machua, B. Kamondo, Linus Mwangi, G. Giathi and O. Chahilu

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he East African sandalwood, scientifically known as Osyris lanceolata is a shrub or a small tree growing to a height of six metres. The tree is known by various local names; msandali (Swahili) muthithii (Kikuyu), mberegesa (Chagga), olseyeayyesi (Maasai) and kithawa (Kamba) among others. It exists dioeciously (different male and female plants) and is indigenous to the East and South African region.

The tree occurs on rocky ridges, mountain slopes and the margins of dry forests and in evergreen bushland, in grassland and in thickets. The tree grows at an altitude of between 900 - 2550m above sea level. Osyris belongs to the semi-parasitic plant family Santalaceae (the sandalwood family) and its roots will always be found associating with those of host plants.

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The East African sandalwood is among the sandalwoods known for producing fragrance-scented wood and a world famous essential oil used in various cosmetics and fragrance industries and has gained popularity in medicine.

Traditionally, the tree has different uses among different peoples in Kenya, including making of red dye, smoking milk containers, healing wounds and treating stomachache, tonsils, diarrhoea, ulcers, snakebite and rashes. The demand for sandalwood has by far outstripped its supply.

Sandalwood is harvested in the wild by uprooting the whole tree including its roots because the essential oil concentration is higher in the roots than the trunk. Although the available sandalwood resource base is not yet known, much of the harvested material in Kenya is smuggled out of gazetted forests, game parks and nature reserves. This mode of exploitation seriously

Propagation of East African sandalwood Propagation of sandalwood from seeds yielded varying results, with seeds from some regions of Kenya recording a germination rate as low as 4 per cent while for others it was as high as 80 per cent. Many seeds had succumbed to insect attacks or abortive embryo formation, resulting in empty fruits.

Propagation from cuttings was hindered by a severe endogenous fungal attack whereas propagation by air layering resulted in 60 per cent success.

Nursery establishment Sandalwoods are semi-parasites and were first reported by J. Scott in 1871 in the Journal of Royal Horticultural Society of India. It has been observed that the absence of root hairs and the presence of actively absorbing haustoria on the roots of sandal plants is evidence that sandal plants depend on hosts for certain nutrients. It is estimated that sandal plants can be parasites on over 300 species of plants, ranging from grasses to other sandal plants. Sandalwoods show different growth patterns on different host species.

Miti July-September 2009

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Empty sandalwood seeds

Stagnating seedlings without a host

At KEFRI, various host species have been tried ranging from grain legumes (Cajanus cajan) to indigenous wild fruits (Rhus natalensis and Carissa edulis). Sandalwood seedlings raised alone stagnated and died after about six months. Initial success in a nursery establishment was recorded with Cajanus as a host plant. However, the indigenous wild fruits proved better for perennial planting.

Rooted cutting from air layering

!

Conclusions Research so far conducted indicates that propagation of East African sandalwood is possible but tedious. As a result, we urgently recommend that any sandalwood plant growing in the wild should be protected against uprooting to avoid losing this economically important genetic resource.

Since the species has a male and a female plant, indiscriminate cutting could

IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF MITI….

…All about your agro-forestry suppliers.

LOOKING FOR MACHINERY, IMPLEMENTS, CHEMICALS AND OTHER AGROFORESTRY INPUTS? Miti Issue 4 will give you a run-down of all these suppliers – who they are, where they are located, what they supply and all the other information crucial for tree-planters and potential tree-planters.

Miti July-September 2009

Robust seedling on Carissa edulis

!

!

wipe out one of the sexes, making it impossible for the species to propagate itself in nature. Urgent domestication and an on-farm planting programme should be initiated to encourage farmers to cultivate sandalwood as a cash crop The writers are researchers at the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI)

MISS

DO NOT MITI ISSUE

31

Tree with great potential

The future looks bright for cultivation of Acacia senegal, which produces gum arabic

T

By Ben Chikamai

he inaugural issue of Miti (Issue No. 0001) carried an article on Acacia senegal as one of the resources with potential for commercialisation in Kenya for improved rural livelihoods. Acacia senegal is the main source of gum arabic, a substance of commercial value in the food and pharmaceutical industries since Pharaonic times, and which remains important even today.

Although substitutes have been introduced, gum arabic has remained the most important of the exudative gums.

In some applications, it has superior technical attributes, which make it difficult to substitute completely, especially in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Its high solubility in water and low viscosity over a wide range of concentrations enhance its high value as an emulsifier and stabiliser.

Rising health consciousness worldwide and the fact that gum arabic is becoming an important ingredient in functional foods, favour its increased consumption, and hence production.

Kenya is well endowed with Acacia senegal, which is widespread in the drylands.

Three of the four varieties are grown in the country but it is mainly Acacia senegal A. senegal var. leiorachis

32

Miti July-September 2009

var. kerensis, which produces gum arabic in commercial quantities. Studies are currently going on to establish the commercial viability of the other two varieties - A. senegal var. senegal and A. senegal var. leiorachis.

Although no detailed inventory has been carried out, previous studies, subsector analysis and scoping exercises reveal that northern Kenya has the potential for producing in excess of 10,000 tonnes of gum arabic per year from wild populations.

Other dryland areas have the resources but environmental conditions are not always favourable for gum production.

Commercial production of gum arabic in Kenya started in 1990 when about four tonnes were exported by the Semi Arid Lands Training and Livestock Improvements Centres of Kenya (SALTLICK) in Isiolo, to the UK. After that, a number of players entered the market and export volumes increased to a peak of 495 tonnes per year in 1995.

However, export volumes declined thereafter and today stand at about 100 tonnes a year.

Kenya has thus remained a minor producer

Acacia senegal var. kerensis

Miti July-September 2009

among the 14 African producing and exporting countries of gum arabic. The main reason for this is that the gum arabic from A. senegal var. kerensis is slightly more viscous and tends to form a gel at higher concentrations compared to the traditional one from A. senegal var. senegal. This presents challenges during processing, which makes traditional users opt for the latter. Secondly, harvesting and post-harvest handling needs to be enhanced to improve the quality of the product. Nevertheless, gum from A. senegal var. kerensis has comparable functional properties to var. senegal with unique niche markets in applications where adhesion is sought. Overcoming the high viscosity constraint during processing is a technological hitch that can be resolved.

Meanwhile, aggressive marketing by traders has opened up the domestic market and approximately 30 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 50 tonnes are sold annually, especially in the adhesive and printing industries with smaller quantities of mill-ground gum arabic being used in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Prices are generally variable, especially for the export market. For example, in 2001/02 the price for gum arabic from Acacia senegal was about US$ 1,500 per tonne, rose to about US$ 4,500 per tonne in 2005/06 and stands at about US$ 3,500 per tonne in the 2008/09 season. Production volumes in producing countries as well as the country of origin influence the prices, with Sudan attracting the highest prices. In Kenya, export prices have generally been low and vary between US$ 1,200 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2,500 per tonne. The main reason for the low prices is that Kenyan gum is slightly different, as explained earlier, but also because Kenya is a relatively new source.

Prices are generally variable along the value chain but floor prices to collectors vary between Ksh 30 - 50 per kilogramme (equivalent to US$ 0.38 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 0.63 per kilogramme) The writer is The Director, Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) Email: benchikamai@ngara.org

A. senegal var. senegal

33

Tall orders for trees

Prices rise as demand for wood products outstrips supply

I

By Joshua K. Cheboiwo

n western Kenya, farm forestry is an important land use activity with vast production and market opportunities in the whole country. However, information on long-term tree product price movements, especially for products from farms, has not been available to farm forestry stakeholders to forecast their potential income and investment opportunities in the sector.

To address the inadequate information on price movements for major tradable tree products in the country, KEFRI in 1999 initiated a long-term study with specific emphasis on western Kenya.

The study involves conducting annual market surveys to collect information on commodity The writer (left) and Jean-Paul Deprins (MD of Better Globe Forestry) in front of sawlogs of cedar and cypress at flows, changing market niches Londiani Forest Reseach Centre and product prices in major market outlets in western ing costs, mostly in the form of bribes, permit related payments, loss Kenya. The data collected was analysed using MS Excel 2003 and of time and other risks that translated into rapid price increases in results presented by graphs. regional markets despite modest increases in farmgate prices.

The results of the study revealed that the major tradable tree Increased charcoal prices ensured better returns to black wattle products were charcoal, sawn wood, transmission poles, firewood woodlot owners that realised a tripling in price from Ksh 50,000 to and construction poles with an aggregated demand value of Ksh 1.6 Ksh 150,000 per hectare of well-stocked woodlots. To improve their billion. The data showed that between 1999 and 2008, tree product price bargaining position and reduce transaction costs, black wattle prices increased by a wide margin. Prices of charcoal, for instance, owners in Nandi North have formed charcoal producer groups. rose by 150 per cent, sawn wood by 260 per cent and sawlogs by 275 per cent, among others. This brought a financial windfall to farmers, Sawlogs and sawn wood transforming them from subsistence to key commercial producers of The freeze on harvesting of public forests in 1999 and the subsetree products in the region. quent ban in 2002 had an immediate impact on aggregate output The unison price movements for various tree products in regional product marketing outlets was due to a high degree of price transmission within the market chains attributed to good communication and transport infrastructure.

The findings of the study explain why farmers in western Kenya and other parts of the country have gone into tree growing in large numbers.

Charcoal The reduction of available woodlots in the former East African Tannin Extract Company (EATEC) farms and dwindling sizes of farms under black wattle (Acacia mearnsii) woodlots in the North Rift translated into an increase of charcoal prices at the farmgate and regional retail outlets. In addition, the Kenya Government ban on harvesting of wood in public forests and restrictions on the movement of tree products increased market-

34

Miti July-September 2009

Cypress sawnwood price trends 1999-2009 30

25

Price in Ksh/tonne

20 Farmgate Eldoret Mbale

15

Kisumu Kakamega Bungoma

10

5

0 1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Period

King post price trends 1999-2009 in Kisumu 120

100

80 Price in Ksh per piece

from sawmills as most of them closed. This translated into a rapid increase in sawn wood prices in most regional markets.

Strict policing and temporary suspension of movement permits cut off all the saw log and sawn wood supply routes. Sawn wood retail prices rose from Ksh 7,000 to over Ksh 25,000 per tonne by mid 2003. Similarly, cypress saw log prices at farm level rose from Ksh 800 to Ksh 3,000 per cubic metre for premium logs, mostly over 25 years.

The lucrative saw log and sawn wood markets brought a financial boon to farmers who planted trees in the 1960s and the 1970s. However, the rise in sawn wood prices in western Kenya was checked in 2003 when imports from Tanzania started to enter the Kenyan market. This had an immediate bearing for exporters of sawn wood from western Kenya for they lost their lucrative markets, mostly in Nairobi and Mombasa.

The sudden entry of Tanzanian softwood sawn wood into Kenya reduced retail prices from Ksh 25,000 to less than Ksh 20,000 per tonne in most outlets in western Kenya. Faced with competition from high quality Tanzanian sawn wood in key market outlets of Mombasa and Nairobi, timber merchants were forced to divert their merchandise to western Kenya markets, thus reversing the upward price trend and stabilising western Kenya prices. Consumers of course welcomed this. (Cheboiwo and Langat, 2004). The timber merchants and farmers were the losers as they were forced to reduce wholesale and retail prices in local markets.

Farmgate

60

Kisumu

40

20

Construction poles

0

Eucalyptus construction poles are some of the most traded tree products in western Kenya. Kisumu remains the dominant market for construction poles in the region with Kondele and Nyalenda markets dominating the stock volumes. Most of the construction poles stocked and sold in Kisumu are harvested and transported from Vihiga and Kakamega districts.

In Kisumu, construction poles recorded a steady price rise that was more pronounced at the retail outlets.

King post farmgate prices doubled from Ksh 25 to Ksh 45 and retail prices rose from Ksh 40 to Ksh 80 during the period. The price increase was mostly caused by increasing demand in construction activities and an increase in the number of customers dependent on urban stockists.

Trade in construction poles has transformed Eucalyptus grandis woodlots into one of the most competitive commercial land-based enterprises in Vihiga District and are fast spreading into neighbouring districts.

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Period

and transmission poles. By 2005, firewood prices had risen from a farmgate price of Ksh 350 to Ksh 600 and at factory gate from Ksh 800 to Ksh 1,200 per tonne. Higher price offers of Ksh 1,300 per tonne were observed in areas of high competition for firewood, such as Eldoret town where several firewood-consuming industries

Industrial firewood Firewood merchants that purchase trees from farmers and public forests for sale to firewood-dependent industries, mostly by order, control the trade in industrial firewood.

During the study period, industrial firewood prices experienced a steady rise due to increased demand for firewood by several industries in the region. The dramatic increase experienced from 2001 was a result of the entry by the Kenya Tea Development Authority (KTDA) affiliated factories and diversion of on-farm trees into high value products such as sawn wood

Miti July-September 2009

A trial by KEFRI, on the introduction of Eucalyptus regnans (five years old) for high altitudes (Kamara, 2300 metres above sea level)

35

of treated poles from various countries (Cheboiwo, 2008). The competitive market prices for treated transmission poles have remained steady at between Ksh 10,000 and Ksh 13,000 for the last five years from both local processing plants and imports from outside the country (Cheboiwo and Langat, 2005).

Conclusions and recommendations

are located. However, the recent entry of Pan Paper Mills into the firewood market in western Kenya increased competition for industrial firewood in the region with factory gate offers of Ksh 1,600 per tonne (Cheboiwo and Langat, 2006).

Transmission poles There are nine commercial treatment plants for transmission poles in the country, six of which are in western Kenya. Out of these, two are not operational with a combined capacity of over 250,000 treated poles per year (Cheboiwo and Langat, 2006). There is only one major consumer of treated transmission poles left in the country, which is the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), after Telkom-Kenya ceased expansion of telegraphic wiring in favour of wireless technologies.

The study revealed that all the treatment plants operated below installed capacities due to shortage of semi-processed poles.

The treatment plants were thus unable to

meet the increasing demand for treated poles for expanded power supply projects.

As a result, in 2007, Kenya imported 150,000 treated transmission poles from various countries, mostly Tanzania, South Africa, Brazil and Finland. The shortage of semiprocessed poles resulted in a farmgate price increase of 233 per cent, from Ksh 750 to Ksh 2,500 per piece.

Older and taller trees can produce up to three pieces of between 9 and 12m in length that attract different prices depending on total pole length and diameter sizes, earning producers a combined income of Ksh 3,500 per tree in some tea estates. The attractive offers have motivated hundreds of farmers to enter into commercial growing of E. grandis and E. saligna in Rift Valley and Western provinces for production of semi-processed polewood markets (Cheboiwo and Langat, 2005).

In 2006, KPLCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s demand for transmission poles had a deficit of 200,000 poles, valued at Ksh 2 billion, leading to continued import

Trade in tree products has increasingly become an important economic activity in western Kenya. The trade involves thousands of players who share incomes generated in the market value chain from farmgate to consumption outlets. Price changes for various products within the last eight years indicate that trade in tree products from farms in terms of volume and value is on the increase.

The increase in the prices of tree products reflects the low supplies and high demand due to a number of reasons, ranging from government interventions to imports and declining forest resources in traditional production areas. The unison price trends observed in charcoal and sawn wood trade in production areas and regional markets indicate a high degree of price transmission within the tree product market chains in the region. This can be attributed to good road and telecommunication infrastructure and a high concentration of forestry production in the Rift Valley.

These factors ensure that competing suppliers transmit price information from the production areas to the regional outlets in the shortest time possible. Since the suppliers are from the same region, they can exchange market and price information on a routine basis.

Farm forestry in western Kenya has great potential to transform livelihoods of millions of smallholder tree growers through increased opportunities in the tree product market and diversification of on-farm incomes. However, a few bottlenecks have to be streamlined in order to tap the vast income opportunities such as improved production practices, harvesting and processing technologies, market infrastructure, organised producer associations and legal and policy constraints in the trade in tree products The writer is the Principal Research Officer, Kenya Forestry Research Institute, Londiani RRC. Email: jkchemangare@yahoo.com or kefri-ln@africaonline.co.ke

36

Miti July-September 2009

Supporting tree-growers in Uganda European Union-funded SPGS pushes commercial tree planting

E

By Paul Jacovelli

veryone seems to be talking about tree planting in Uganda at present.

The good news is that there is a lot more than just talk. From community groups to large-scale commercial companies, people are seriously planting trees. The private sector’s surge of interest in tree planting over the last five or so years represents a remarkable turn-around from the traditional state-dominated forest sector: it also comes at a critical time for Uganda.

The combination of a rapidly increasing population and a huge (over 90 per cent) dependency on bio-energy is not good news for the country’s remaining forests and woodlands. Add into that equation the harvesting without replanting of virtually all the country’s 12,000 hectares of timber plantations. Clearly, a serious timber and fuel wood shortage is looming.

The European Union-funded Sawlog Production Grant Scheme (SPGS) has been a major catalyst to this interest in commercial tree-planting in Uganda. Even countries beyond Uganda’s borders are looking over the fence to find out how the SPGS has managed to engage the private sector in a way never done before.

So how does the SPGS work? The project gives a combination of financial and technical support to private growers.

But what sets the SPGS apart from many previous tree-planting initiatives is the requirement for the growers to first prove their commitment (by starting with their own resources) and also by setting (and enforcing!) basic standards before any money changes hands. The private sector has embraced remarkably quickly the many modern silvicultural techniques being introduced by the SPGS. To apply for SPGS support, the prospective grower submits a basic management plan detailing the grower’s planting proposals. The SPGS then visits the site to ensure compliance with rules regarding environment and social issues, as well as to check the forestry side of course (such as species choice, seed origins and how the planter will establish and maintain the trees).

Miti July-September 2009

A community group’s excellent five-year-old pine crop in western Uganda

The SPGS supports commercial tree growers working on land that is at least 25 hectares. Those with smaller parcels of land are encouraged to come together in a formal association (to reach the minimum required land area) or to apply for the project’s highly successful community support initiative.

Under this initiative, a minimum of 20 growers in any one village are encouraged to come together formally: then the project staff visit to inspect the land and if suitable for planting, train the growers on how to prepare it. When the land has been prepared and the rains arrive, the SPGS delivers the trees. SPGS thus provides the seedlings and gives advice.

In under five years, the SPGS has directly supported – both financially and technically – the establishment of over 10,000 hectares of plantations throughout the country.

Other growers have planted without direct SPGS support after being encouraged by what they have heard or seen happening around the country. The beneficiaries have been many: not just the 110 or so private tree growers directly assisted by the project, but also the many thousands of people

who have been provided with jobs where none existed. Then there are the community growers who have received over 550,000 seedlings since 2005.

Due to the fantastic response from private tree growers and the results achieved to date, the EU and the Norwegian Government have committed funds for a four-year expansion of the SPGS – from mid2009 to 2013. This should go a significant way towards creating a major plantation resource for Uganda and in doing so, will build a strong foundation for a profitable and sustainable forest-based industry in the region For more details on the SPGS, visit www.sawlog. ug and in particular the publication – SPGS: Frequently Asked Questions (v 4). The SPGS also has just published (May 2009) Tree Planting Guidelines for Uganda – a very practical guide to commercial planting that will be of interest to other East African countries too. To contact the SPGS: email info@sawlog.ug or tel. + 256 (0)312 265 332/3.

The writer is SPGS’s Chief Technical Adviser Email:info@sawlog.ug

37

Water for a thirsty land Making use of every drop in ASAL

1

2

Rock catchments Many possibilities exist in ASAL where a big rock sticks out of the soil. The photos show an example in Machakos District.

1. The rock itself, with a view of the storage basins below.

Note the presence of a eucalypt woodlot just next to the water storage.

2 . A small wall built to contain the water flow and run-off, at the base of the rock. Note the collection point, from where a PVC pipe leaves for the storage basins.

3. A close-up of the storage basins. They consist of a plastic liner spread over an earth embankment.

Depending on the quality and type of plastic, the liners can last 5 - 20 years. When the photograph was taken, a cover had not been built but it was fixed afterwards.

The cover would consist of different type of plastic. It limits evaporation, the growth of algae and inflow of dirt. Combined storage capacity of the basins is approx 250m3. Cost (materials and labour) about Ksh 400,000 - considerably cheaper than a construction in concrete with the same capacity.

3

T

By Herman Verlodt

he water supply management consists of managing the complete chain of activities from the source of the water until it reaches the consumer. This is realised by different specialists like climatologists, hydrologists, hydro-geologists, hydraulics, chemists, engineers, technicians, managers, lawyers and others at different levels. These specialists measure and calculate all the parameters of surface and underground water (quantity and quality), calculate and put in place the infrastructure to capture, mobilise, transport, store, treat and distribute the water to the final users.

Public administration or private companies handle these different specialities

38

for big water structures and networks.

However, local communities or even individual owners manage the small sized schemes or their own water points.

We will only focus on some aspects of the integrated water resources management and more especially of water resources in arid zones and especially those relatively neglected by big structures. There is a lot of traditional knowledge accumulated by humanity all over the world on the use or exploitation of the small quantities of available water. The main objective in arid zones is to capture and use every drop of water.

In general, the water resources are either conventional or non-conventional. The conventional resources are the surface and

groundwater resources. Non-conventional resources are desalinised and wastewater treated through different systems like evaporation-condensation, electrolysis, reverse osmosis and others.

General overview of the water resources The table below gives an exhaustive overview of the different groups and categories of water, with the origin, type of harvesting, techniques of capture, mobilisation and storage and use.

2. Surface water: Surface water is the result of direct rainfall after contact with the earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surface. Some of this water is absorbed by the soil. When the

Miti July-September 2009

Water category

Water harvesting type

Origin of water

Techniques of capture and mobilisation

Techniques of storage

General use

Rain water harvesting

Rock, crusted soils,

- Little catchment: negarims1,

-Water holes, basins, pans,

Agriculture, cattle , wildlife,

road and roof

circular bunds, etc..., roof and

cisterns, tanks

and domestic use

catchments

road catchment.

Tree and fruit tree plantation

- Medium catchment:

Cropping and plantation

meskats2, - Large catchment: tabias3,

Surface

jessours4

Water Flood water harvesting

Seasonal rivers

- Spreading of flood

Water table recharge

Agriculture

-Seasonal cultivation after flooding

Conventional water

Permanent and

- Dams

- Reservoirs

Drinking water, irrigation,

seasonal rivers

足- Direct pumping

- Reservoirs and direct use

industry

Sandy rivers

- Subsurface dams

Direct use

Human and animal needs

-Underground galleries

- Direct use

Irrigation in oasis, cattle and

-Different machines moved by

- Direct use

domestic use

people or animals.

-Direct use and storage

Irrigation

Pumping with motorised

in basins

Different human uses

machines (conventional

-Storage in basins

(domestic uses, irrigation,

energy, but also solar or wind

-Storage in basins after

industry)

Shallow wells

energy)

cooling

Different human uses

Deep boreholes

- Artesian or pumped

(domestic uses, irrigation,

Very deep water

- Artesian or pumped hot

industry)

tables

water (geothermal)

Heating of green houses,

- Sand trap dams Extraction and pumping from small wells and holes in riverbeds.

Superficial groundwater

Groundwater

Springs

Deep groundwater Foggara (Khriga)

irrigation, human use, industry

Non conventional waters

Desalination

Saline groundwater,

-Desalination plant (electro

Direct use or storage in

Drinking water and different

brackish water

seawater desalination

dialysis, reverse osmosis)

basins for mixing

uses

Treated

Urban used

Treatment plant (primary,

Storage in basins

Restrictive use in agriculture

wastewater

wastewater

secondary and tertiary levels)

and industry

1. Negarims: These are micro-catchments, diamond-shaped, surrounded by small earth bunds with an infiltration pit in the lowest corner. This system is ideal for small-scale tree planting. Size ranges between 10-100m2.

2. Meskat: A run-off system of catchments sized 500m2 specially designed for olive trees in Tunisia. It consists of squares surrounded by a 20cm high earth bund with a spillover towards lower units.

3. Tabia: A traditional macro-catchment area in Tunisia. It consists of a run-off area occupying two-thirds of the slope and used for grazing. The lower one-third is occupied by crops in U-shaped soil banks arranged in a cascade downwards, provided with spillways.

4. Jessour: A system of small dams (earth, rock, gabions) that capture rainwater run-off from hill slopes. Fertile sediments accumulate behind the dams allowing the cropping of trees (olive, almond, palms etc) and annual crops (area 0.2-5ha). Through spillovers, water canflow towards downstream dams.

Miti July-September 2009

39

Yes, it’s possible to use saline water. However, you need a desalination plant like this one, working on the principle of “reverse osmosis”. Here, saline water containing about 20g of salt per litre is completely desalinated, at a price of Ksh 8 per litre. This plant has a capacity of 40m3 per hr. The investment cost is high and a constant supply of electricity is required (Isinya, PJ Dave Flowers Ltd)

Table 2: Values of runoff coefficient C Topography and Vegetation

Sandy loam

Soil texture

Clay and silt loam

Clay

.................................................................................................................................................................................................

Woodland Flat (0 - 5 %)

0.10

0.30

0.4

Rolling (5 - 10 %)

0.25

0.35

0.5

Hilly (10 - 30 %)

0.30

0.50

0.6

Pasture Flat

0.10

0.30

0.4

Rolling

0.16

0.36

0.55

Hilly

0.22

0.42

0.6

0.3

0.5

0.6

0.4

0.6

0.7

0.52

0.72

Cultivated Flat Rolling Hilly

Urban

Flat Rolling

0.82

30% impervious

50% impervious

0.4

0.55

0.55

0.5

0.65

0.8

soil is saturated, or when the rain intensity is above the soil infiltration rate, a part of the rainfall becomes runoff water, is collected by rivers and flows into lakes, seas and oceans.

Human beings have always applied different methods - varying from the simple traditional water harvesting techniques to big dams – to capture and use runoff water.

40

70% impervious

Water harvesting is an umbrella term describing methods of collecting and concentrating various forms of runoff from various sources and for various uses. Runoff water harvesting is the deliberate collection of rainwater from a surface (catchment) and its storage to provide a supply of water.

There are two principal categories of

water harvesting systems: Macro-catchments: These consist of floodwater harvesting, the main source being a watercourse which has a large catchment area. The method often requires provision for overflow of excess water (spillway).

Micro-catchments: Rainwater harvesting from ground surface, rocks, roads or roofs that have a small catchment (1-30 m of length) and do not need provisions for overflow of excess runoff.

Rainwater can be harvested from a cropped or a catchment area. A cropped area is one where a crop is planted. A catchment area is used to provide additional soil moisture in the form of runoff to a cropped area.

Water harvesting efficiency depends on how much runoff can be collected from a surface. The runoff coefficient defines the percentage of rainfall that becomes runoff. The most comprehensive information available yet was provided by Hudson in 1981 and is summarised in table 2.

The second part of this article will appear in the next issue of Miti The writer is a former professor of the University of Tunis (Tunisia) and a researcher specialising in horticulture and irrigation techniques Email: herman.verlodt@btcctb.org

Miti July-September 2009

Miti July-September 2009