Walter Menya
29 April 2008
Nairobi — For 66 years, retired teacher Joseph Atonga has tilled his 40-acre shamba in Magunga, Suba District, for subsistence crops.
Despite poor harvests due to pest attacks and continued use of land for the same crops, the farmer has never stopped planting maize, beans and millet every season.
Along with other farmers in this locality, finding a ready market for their surplus produce has also not been easy since they plant similar crops.
Likewise, over the years, the farmers have been dogged by poor transport that hampers movement of the surplus harvest to outside markets.
However, the seasons Mr Atonga cultivated his farm exclusively for these traditional food crops could well be on their sunset days.
With the support from a Dutch organisation, Gwassi Hills - Het Groene Woudt (green forest), Mr Atonga and 24 other farmers have ventured into commercial tree planting, a rare undertaking in the region.
Before the company came to the scene, Mr Atonga and his colleagues started the Gwassi hills conservation to conserve the vegetation on the hills.
Their hard work did not go unnoticed hence the arrival of Gwassi Hills - Het Groene Woudt.
"The project is a wonderful venture for us because we have never had a cash crop before and we believe that it is going to benefit the entire community," reaffirmed Mr Atonga.
The reforestation project, to cover the entire Gwassi and Gembe hills, has given farmers hopes of better and brighter future and improved living standards.
Ms Kim Hartog, a consultant for the Gwassi Hills - Het Groene Woudt (GHHGW), said that the organisation planned to introduce fast-maturing tree varieties that take one to three years before harvest.
"It is set up in the spirit of social entrepreneurship, meaning a business undertaking with social profit," she said during an interview.
Realise dream
This implies that in reforestation, the organisation will look for a way to be economically viable, while ensuring socio-economic and environmental benefits. She added that the organisation would grow and market soft and hard wood, to have short term and long term benefits.
The Dutch organisation has partnered with several organisations within the locality to realise the dream of the Magunga community of fighting poverty through improved vegetation cover.
One such organisation partnering with GHHGW in the project implementation is Friends of Lake Victoria, a Kisumu-based environmental conservation organisation.
The project will be implemented in three phases with the first phase, the commercial tree planting on trust land leased from the Suba county council from next month.
"We have acquired 6,000 acres from the council (Suba County) on the slopes of the hills to begin the project. At the same time, we have also obtained clearance from the National Environmental Management Authority to carry on with the project after an environment impact assessment," said Ms Hartog.
The lease, worth Sh15 million is set to last 99 years during which GHHGW will cooperate with the local and central government to improve access roads, schools and hospitals in the area.
Dr Godfrey Ogonda, a programmes officer at Friends of Lake Victoria, says the first phase is expected to benefit at least 1,000 members of the community directly.
"We are looking at increasing that figure in subsequent phases though this will depend on the success achieved in the first phase," said Dr Ogonda.
The group envisages investing an estimated Sh50 billion in the region in the next 20 years as the cooperation with the community thrives, said Dr Ogonda.
Seen success
The second phase, the social or community tree planting, is the opportunity farmers such as Atonga have set their eyes on and which they have vowed not to let go.
Dr Ogonda says that the phase will commence in three years after farmers have been adequately sensitised and seen the success of the initial phase.
During this phase, farmers who have surplus plots will be able to lease some of them for commercial planting of trees.
"The first phase is basically a pilot project, but the subsequent one will give the local farmers the opportunity to plant similar trees on small individual farms," said Dr Ogonda.
Mr Atonga and his fellow farmers cannot wait for this time though they are promising to carry on with their previous farming systems.
"We are not envisaging a situation that we will be asked to abandon food crop farming," said Atonga.
Similar sentiments were expressed by the chairman of the Gwassi hills conservation organisation, Mr Sylvery Gaa, who said that although the project was good, they would advise the members accordingly "not to rush for money at the expense of food crops".
The third and final phase, says Dr Ogonda, is the village transformation that will run alongside the first two as the implementing organisations seek to improve the existing infrastructure in the community.
Advance loans
Already, the company is promising the farmers a ready market for the timber from the farms.
"The company will be the market for the timber products. We will buy from the farmers for resale locally and abroad," said Ms Hartog.
In addition, GHHGW promises to advance loans to the farmers to improve their productivity.
At the same time, Dr Ogonda reveals that plans are well underway to introduce the farmers to mushroom farming and beekeeping to cut the overdependence on traditional food crops.
"This community should count itself lucky because we want to work with them to improve on all spheres of life. We will encourage them to start other income generating activities as they wait for the trees to mature by advancing them loans," he said.
Ms Hartog said: "We are not here to impoverish the people, but to make them lead better lives."
Jatropha plant
She assured the community leaders during a meeting at Magunga chief's camp that the company would involve the farmers at all levels.
At the moment, Ms Hartog says that their scientists are on the ground carrying out experiments on the soil at Got Okudo and Ramoya.
"We want to have a base everywhere and get on with the work as fast as possible," she said.
The company is also sourcing for seedlings but looks at the possibility of starting their own tree nursery.
Besides the timber-producing trees, the main project in the venture, GHHGW plans to introduce other plants such castor oil plant, palm trees and the jatropha plant, the much sought after plant in bio- fuel production.
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