Department heads in Narok County have been challenged to lead the tree planting campaign by ensuring their office compounds have adequate tree cover.
Narok County Commissioner Isaac Masinde said the county has planted only 359, 000 trees this year, yet they had a target of planting 4.3 million trees before the short rains subsided.
He spoke during a County Implementation and Management Committee (CIMC) meeting held at the County Commissioner’s conference hall, where he asked government officers to help spearhead the tree planting agenda in a bid to achieve the set target.
“We need to be in the active group that is planting trees so that we can achieve our target. Keep reporting what you have planted because every tree planted should be recorded in order to get the actual number of tree seedlings planted,” Masinde said.
The county commissioner said over 5000 people had been evicted from the Maasai Mau Forest to reclaim the mega-water catchment land that had been greatly invaded.
He reminded the government officers that every individual has a target of planting 300 tree seedlings in 10 years to achieve the 15 billion tree target that the government aims to achieve.
Narok County Ecosystem Conservator Daniel Mkung said there are 37 private tree nursery beds in the county with over 5 million tree seedlings.
He called on organisations and well-wishers to buy the seedlings from the private farms at Sh50 per seedling to plant on their farms or office premises.
At the County Forest Office, Mkung said he has about 300,000 seedlings and is calling on the residents to volunteer to pick seedlings to plant on their farms.
According to the Meteorological Department, the current rains are expected to extend to January 2024, meaning the tree seedlings being planted now will flourish.
By Ann Salaton
