Land owners along river banks have been urged to plant trees 30 metres away from the river.
Thika West Kenya Forest Services (KFS) officer Fredrick Njoroge has asked such owners to avoid planting trees which consume a lot of water along the banks.
“Trees like eucalyptus should not be planted along the river banks because they are known to consume a lot of water,’’ Njoroge noted.
Speaking from his Thika office on Saturday, Njoroge said that from July 2014 to January 2015, his office in collaboration with Thika and Nairobi Rivers Water Users Associations (NRWUAs) have planted planted several indigenous tree seedlings.
“In collaboration with the two RWUAs, the sub-county office has planted 20,500 seedings along river Chania and Kariminu,’’ Njoroge said.
He said that the main tree seedling species planted along the two rivers are water berry, cordial abysinica, red cinder, podo, warbugia and Olea.
Njoroge added that the current total number of seedling produced by individuals, self-help groups and institutions in the area is 528,380 with 122,944 being indigenous and the rest exotic.
“If the farmers sell each of the 528,381 tree seedlings at Sh20, they will realise sales of Sh10,567,620,” Njoroge said.
He said that the four KFS tree nurseries currently have a grand total of 118,840 indigenous and exotic trees seedlings.