If private plantations are encouraged, public forests and money will be saved

My forest should be good news all round, but it is not. I planted my trees with a profit motive. I figured that at about 800 trees per acre, I would end up with 400 mature trees per acre after eight years. I am on track for the first selective removal of weak trees to improve the growth of the remaining ones. PHOTO/FILE 

In Summary

• My forest should be good news all round, but it is not. I planted my trees with a profit motive. In fact, the proceeds from the sale of timber, poles and fuelwood were supposed to be my children’s ticket to university.
• It means that the poor in urban areas will continue spending Sh60 per day on cooking charcoal which is dearer than the Sh20 used by the middle class on the cleaner LPG and electricity per day.
• If wood products like charcoal, timber, fuelwood can be supplied by private individuals and enterprises, government forests would be safe and my trees would have a ready market and not be subjected to unfair competition by Chilean or South African private forests.

By Gachuhi Waringa
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I own a five-acre forest which constitutes 90 per cent of all my land. At a glance I am doing better than the government’s effort of only 6.9 per cent tree cover which is a major improvement from the earlier two per cent.

My forest should be good news all round, but it is not. I planted my trees with a profit motive. In fact, the proceeds from the sale of timber, poles and fuelwood were supposed to be my children’s ticket to university.

I figured that at about 800 trees per acre, I would end up with 400 mature trees per acre after eight years. I am on track for the first selective removal of weak trees to improve the growth of the remaining ones.

GLARING ANOMALIES

That will earn me some little money for my trouble, but I am looking forward to the day I sell 2,000 trees at the current unit price of Sh3,000 which will earn me Sh6 million.

Well, enough of day-dreaming! It seems like the government is hell-bent on ensuring that my dream of a profitable future goes up in smoke through the National Forest (Conservation & Management) Bill, 2013. The Bill will see Kenya continue wasting precious forex importing timber from Finland, China, Tanzania or Uganda.

It means that the poor in urban areas will continue spending Sh60 per day on cooking charcoal which is dearer than the Sh20 used by the middle class on the cleaner LPG and electricity per day. 

Instead of the State agencies charged with forestry coming up with ways of expanding our current resource of 135,000 hectares of plantation on private land to over one million hectares, they want us to focus on “protecting” what is in government forests.

The Bill seems to advocate staying on the same lane with its predecessor, the Forest Act, 2005, that hardly achieved anything but cosmetic reforms.

One of the most glaring anomalies that should have been addressed in the Bill is a review of representation of key stakeholders. For instance the proposed Kenya Forest Service Board will comprise representatives from the Land Commission, forest research, forest professionals, community forest associations, sawmillers and NGOs under the Public Benefits Organisation Act.

Private forest growers feel that the Bill puts too much emphasis on conservation of public forests at the expense of the potential that private forests portend for the sector.

In my view conservation of public natural forests which currently constitute 85 per cent of State forests, is paramount because it will ensure we continue enjoying ecosystem services like water catchments, carbon sinks, and biodiversity. 

The elephant in the room is who, how and where from do we satisfy our insatiable hunger for firewood, charcoal, building timber, processed timber, support poles, building poles, furniture and for industrial use from the meagre 15 per cent of 1.7 per cent of our land mass that is reserved for plantations of cypress, pine and eucalyptus.

It is, therefore, only natural that the main thrust of any legislative instruments proposed should focus on ensuring that a viable alternative to public forest resource is cultivated and encouraged.

At the moment, Kenya Forest Services plantations are selling a building pole of 15cm diametre, popularly known as fito, at Sh80 while the market is retailing it at Sh700. It costs about Sh300 to grow the same for 2-3 years and many farmers are willing to sell such timber at a wholesale price of Sh250-450, depending on the origin.

DISTORTED MARKET

This is distorting the market by selling the pole at a subsidy funded by the public coffers. KFS should get out of the retail market for timber and leave it to the private sector. If that was done, the policing costs would not be necessary in the future.

If wood products like charcoal, timber, fuelwood can be supplied by private individuals and enterprises, government forests would be safe and my trees would have a ready market and not be subjected to unfair competition by Chilean or South African private forests.

I hope my MP will ensure amendments are made to make the Forest Bill a market-oriented instrument that encourages private enterprise.