The government may soon require farmers to put 10 per cent of their land under trees as part of a set of measures to save the shrinking forest cover.

This action will be taken as a last resort as the country continues to suffer the effects of years of environmental degradation that has last left it starved of water, food and energy.

"The government has the power under the law to force people to plant trees on their land," agriculture permanent secretary, Dr Romano Kiome, has said.

Under the Agriculture Act, the minister can institute rules that prohibit, regulate, and control clearing of land in a bid to promote soil and water conservation and prevention of the destruction of vegetation.

Dr Kiome said this during the World Congress of Agroforestry in Nairobi on Monday. The international forum brought together researchers and policy makers in agroforestry--the combination of agricultural and forestry technologies to create more diverse, productive, profitable and sustainable land-use systems.

The proposed directive by the government follows findings from the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) that show that whereas forests cover is shrinking, the number of trees being grown on farms is increasing and this may restore equilibrium in the eco-system.

The study revealed that over one billion hectares accounting for 46 per cent of world's farmlands have forest cover exceeding the United Nations recommended 10 per cent.

Kenya's forest cover is roughly two per cent, therefore still significantly below the UN recommendation. This forest cover may be compromised further unless those allocated land in the Mau Complex, East Africa's biggest and most important water catchment area, vacate the land. The Mau forest is receding at an alarming rate.

This news from ICRAF may offer a glimpse of hope for the future.

"The number of trees being grown on farms is bigger than the Amazon and is a sign that farmers are embracing agroforestry," Dr Dennis Garrity the Centre's Director General said.

Environmental crusader Prof Wangaari Maathai, speaking at the same function, welcomed the government's proposal but expressed apprehension given the government's history of oscillating on policy.

"We fought against the Shamba system and after the government stopped it, they have now come up with a similar system," Prof Maathai said.

The Nobel Prize winner suggested that the remedy to the ailing eco-system which determines energy and food security was the promotion of individual responsibility. She appealed to all farmers to parcel out part of their farms to grow trees.

"We can blame failed rains for crop failure but as we are preparing for the El Nino rains what are we doing to harvest the water which usually gets wasted as runoff even as it depletes the soil of nutrients," she asked.

Depleted soils lead to lower yields forcing farmers to use fertilisers to improve crop yield. Research conducted in southern Africa suggests that this cycle can be broken through agroforestry.

Malawi which is setting the pace in this regard has embarked on a four-year programme aimed at increasing the calorie intake of 200,000 families by practising agroforestry in rural farms in order to increase yields in maize production.

ICRAF encouraged farmers in the southern African state to experiment intercropping maize with the nitrogen-fixing Gliricidia tree, on a gamble that the nitrogen would improve yields and save farmers fertiliser costs.

Improved yieldsIntercropping is the agricultural practice of cultivating two or more crops in the same space at the same time.

Results available so far show that farms that intercropped with Gliricidia improved annual yields to 3.7 tonnes per hectare up from 1.1 tonnes previously. When fertiliser was added, the yields swelled to 5.5 tonnes.

The agroforestry body carried out similar research in neighbouring Zambia over a five-year period where the net profit per hectare was $269 per hectare for farms where there was intercropping with Gliricidia, whereas for farms where intercropping did not occur the net profits were $130 per hectare.