Nyanza Regional Commissioner Ms Zipora Mworoa has led National Government Administration Officers in Kisii County through a tree planting exercise in a move geared towards realizing ample tree cover as directed by President Dr. William Ruto.
This came after an engagement with the NGAOs at Agricultural Training Centre where chiefs were encouraged to each oversee planting of at least 3,000 seedlings every month in their respective locations.
Mworoa also encouraged the officers to nurture the seedlings up to maturity.
The RC said they would work closely with other stakeholders including the Kenya forest Service, members of the public, other civil servants and various organizations in the endeavor to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change that has been ravaging the country.
She however appealed to the officers to handle the emotive land matters in the county very carefully to prevent nasty incidents due to smallholder farms.
County forest conservator Mr. Wellington Dakar noted that the campaign in the area had managed to reach over half million trees during this financial year, although he anticipated to reach 1.5 million by the end of it.
He explained there were over 10 million seedlings donated by KFS, the community and the private sector of which over 1.5m will be planted during the current rains, and which will contribute to the achievement of 30 percent tree cover in the next 4 years.
The trees are being planted in the national gazetted forests, county forests, and private forests and on people’s farms especially for land demarcation purposes.
The conservator said KFS was also offering technical services and targeting agro forestry trees which did not affect crops in the smallholder farms.
He appealed to the ministry of interior which is proving to be most aggressive to start their own seedling nurseries to complement those of KFS.
By Jane Naitore and Clinton Nyamumbo
