Thousands of residents in Kericho joined the rest of the country in the National Tree Planting exercise at Londiani Forest in Kipkelion East Sub-County where they managed to plant over 10,000 tree seedlings on a 25,000-acre piece of land.
The exercise was led by Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir who called for a continuous growing of trees in the vast section of Londiani Forest that had for many years been degraded through cutting down of trees.
“Climate Change is real. Let’s heed the President’s call and plant trees to avoid the repeat of catastrophes the like of which has been witnessed this year because of the ongoing floods.” Said CS Chirchir
Kericho County Commissioner Gilber Kitiyo called for concerted efforts in the growing of trees to attain the set target of growing 1.2 million trees by the end of this year within the County saying only 240,000 trees have been planted so far.
“We still have a long way to go to attain our target and let’s be passionately active in planting trees even in our homes and take good care of the trees as well as to ensure 100 percent survival rate of the trees we plant.” Added Mr. Kitiyo
At the same time, the County Forestry Conservator, Kericho, Mr John Kidogo was confident that the 25,000-acre part of the Londiani forest that is degraded will be fully planted trees if private and public organizations continue actively visiting the area to plant trees.
“To fill up this 10,000-hectare piece, we need to plant a total of 40,000 tree seedlings, today we have managed to plant 10,000 and the remaining 30,000 will be planted by the Kenya Forestry Service together with residents and organizations in the coming week,” said Mr Kidogo
Other leaders present during the tree planting exercise included Agriculture Principal Secretary Paul Rono, Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot, Kericho Woman Representative Beatrice Kemei, Kipkelion East Member of Parliament Joseph Cherorot, Kipkelion West legislator Hillary Kosgei, and Kericho County Deputy Governor Eng Fred Kirui.
The leaders urged Kenya Forest Service and residents to continue planting trees and taking good care of them to maturity saying the trees will help in averting the negative effects of climate change.
By Kibe Mburu and Zipporah Njambi
