A forester in Muchakai village in Gatundu North Sub County has called Kiambu residents to embrace tree farming as a money making activity.
Paul Githaiga who is in charge of Kieni forest Karangari region says time has come for farmers in the region to change from the traditional 'unprofitable' ways of farming and adopt tree planting which he says is very lucrative.
"Planting trees for money generates more cash than the traditional crops farmers have relied on for a long time like maize, beans and wheat," he said.
The forest officer said planting eucalyptus trees had proven to be very profitable by residents who pioneered the activity.
“Many of the farmers who planted eucalyptus eight years ago on idle land are smiling all the way to the bank,” said Githaiga, adding that investors had put up several eucalyptus treatment plants in the region providing ready market for farmers.
‘Two acres of land can produce an approximate of 40 bags of maize annually which translates to Sh100,000 and in eight years that it takes a eucalyptus tree to mature a maize farmer would get Sh800,000. Compare this to Sh5.2 million a farmer would get from 1300 eucalyptus trees planted on the same acreage over a similar period as each tree is sold at an average of Sh4500,” he explained.
Karanja also called on the Kiambu County government to ensure that the planted tree seedlings were protected from destruction.
“Every year we plant trees, but we have not looked back to take stock of how many of the planted seedlings survive, “he observed.