By Arnold Ageta
Labour Ministry Cabinet Secretary, Florence Bore has today challenged residents of Nyamira to at least plant 10 indigenous seedlings each during the current rainy season as the country seeks to achieve the 30 per cent forest cover.
During her tree planting campaign at Ibucha Primary School in Nyamira County, CS Bore asked the residents to take advantage of the ongoing rainy season to plant trees.
The country targets to plant 15 billion trees in the next 10 years to help mitigate the effects of climate change in the country that has had adverse effects.
The Cabinet Secretary is leading the tree planting campaign in Nyamira, and she will be in Nyamira County every fourth Tuesday of the month to ensure the exercise is continuous until the target is met.
“As a ministry, we have been given a target of planting 2 million trees,” she said. “One million in Bomet County and 200 thousand trees here in Nyamira.”
The exercise at Ibucha Primary School saw pupils and residents planting 2000 trees, and the exercise will move to the next venue next month.
According to the CS, the ministry has already done half of its target of 2 million trees in the two counties she has been assigned.
Bore asked residents to plant trees in their homesteads, institutions, and open public spaces for environmental conservation.
She, however, warned against planting trees that are not approved by the Kenya Forest Services because they will affect the environment.
“Plant those trees that the forest officers have advised us to plant because they know much about the trees and where they are supposed to be planted,” she said.
She emphasized the importance of trees in conserving the environment to avert natural calamities like floods that hit the country recently and claimed more than 200 lives in Kenya.
“In Nyamira, we have surpassed the target, but we will still carry on this exercise because we have free spaces where we can plant them,” she announced.
According to the Kenya Forest Service, Nyamira has also surpassed the 30 percent tree cover, and they are currently at 35 per cent.
She advocates for the planting of indigenous trees as opposed to foreign trees like eucalyptus because foreign trees destroy the environment.
“Indigenous trees are best when it comes to holding the soil firm and releasing oxygen to enhance fresh air circulation,” she said.
She, however, asked people not only to plant but also to take care of the trees until maturity.
“Do not wait for the government to take care of the trees when the trees have been planted in our institutions,” she urged them.
