Kenya Forest Service plans to increase forest cover in Nyeri county to 40 percent by the year 2022 .
Nyeri Ecosystem Conservator, Geoffrey Mathinji, said though the county was among the leading with the highest tree cover in the country, there was need to do more to boost the current cover of 38.3 percent and called on local people to join such efforts.
He said to attain the targeted two percent increment, they plan to pant and grow 3,000 hectares of trees annually, which should mainly come from private lands.
Speaking at Narumoru Forest Station when he led a tree planting exercise in marking the national tree-planting day, the conservator said the target could only be attained if all residents joined the effort by ensuring they have at least a 10 percent tree cover in their farms.
He said they hoped to plant over four million tree seedlings by the end of the current rainfall season as he appealed to residents to take advantage of the rain to carry out the exercise.
He also appealed to residents to not only plant trees seedlings, but also take good care of them to ensure their survival and maturity to achieve the intended goal.
“It is not just a matter of planting trees, but growing them to ensure 100 percent survival,” Mathinji said.
He said similar activities were taking place all over the county where they expected to plant 25,000 tree seedlings by the end of the day.
The event was attended by among others, ICT Cabinet Secretary, Joe Mucheru and Nyeri Deputy Governor, Caroline Karugu.
Mucheru called on locals to make tree planting a habit as it goes a long way in conserving the environment, which was an important ingredient in the attainment of the President Uhuru Kenyatta’s big four agenda.
Karungu said the county had embarked on a similar project targeting schools with a view of planting over 500,000 tree seedlings in all public schools compound.
This, she said would also go a long way in inculcating a tree planting culture among the children.
By Samuel Waititu
