Uasin Gishu Environment and Natural Resources CeC Mary Njogu has urged residents to support the county government intiative to achieve 10 percent forest cover.
Njogu asked residents to plant more trees during the current and subsequent rainy seasons to increase the forest cover in the region.
She was speaking after attending a forum for forest officials in Eldoret on Thursday where which sought to come up with a strategy for achieving a consistent increase in forest cover.
"We cannot really overemphasise the importance of planting trees. Thwe inherent benefits besides rain include fodder, fuel and timber for construction," she said
The Cec revealed that the county had put stern measures to ensure forests are protected and warned that anyone found destroying forests would be prosecuted.
Uasin Gishu County currently has six percent of it's land under forest.
Njogu said that a greening programme has been initiated where seedlings have been purchases ahead of a planting session. She said that 8,000 bamboo, 400,000 indigenous and 300,000 exotic tree seedlings have been bought. The seedlings will be availed to farmers for planting in their firms.
"Soon we will be launching a program that is meant to mobilise farmers to in the least plant trees to plant 10 percent of their farms with trees," she said.