There is need for government and private agencies to change the strategy on how they lure Kenyans to plant more trees and increase the national tree cover.
The Kenya Water Towers Authority Chairman, Isaac Kalua says that the country needs to plant 360 million trees every year for five years to achieve the 10 per cent forest cover.
However, this would not be achieved because Kenyans do not see the benefits of those trees.
Therefore, the government should now change strategy and urge Kenyans to plant fruit trees or any other type of tree with financial benefit to them, says Kalua.
“We need to change strategy and be solution providers. Plant trees for fruits or those beneficial to the community,” he said.
At the same time, he said planting 360 million trees is a profit-making venture worth over Sh.7.2 billion trees.
He said Kenyans should plant more seedlings and sell to the government at minimum cost of Sh.20 per seedling, which translate to Sh.7.2 billion for the 360 million seedling per year.
According to Kalua, each of the 47 county governments needed to plant 7.9 million trees annually.
He was speaking on Wednesday during a tree planting event at Shanzu Teachers Training College and the Shimo la Tewa maximum security prison in Mombasa.
At the Coast, Lamu County has the largest forest cover of 33.9 per cent, Kilifi 7.6 per cent, Tana River has 6.21 per cent, Kwale 5.44 per cent, Mombasa has 5.21 per cent and Taita Taveta has 3.63 per cent.
By Hussein Abdullahi
