Sustainable community agroforestry in Kakamega

We are delighted to announce the start of a new agroforestry project in Kakamega County, Western Kenya in partnership with the Community Empowerment Initiative Network (CEIN).

Founded in 2006, CEIN is a community based organisation operating in Kakamega County of Western Kenya.Our involvement with CEIN goes back to May 2015, with the launch of their 12 month ‘Moringa tree farming for a healthy and wealthy community’ project.

An estimated 64,000 people were suffering from HIV/AIDS in the county. The project aimed to help HIV positive groups plant 25,000 Moringa trees on their farms. The Moringa tree boosts the immunity of people suffering from HIV/AIDS. Therefore, the project would not only provide a source of income, but improve the health of those infected.

One year on, CEIN have learnt much from this initial project, in which they experienced some serious set-backs. First, it rained extremely heavily, killing some of the seedlings in the nurseries. Then the weather was unusually hot, resulting in a low survival rate of those seedlings planted out.

Building on the lessons from this project, we have teamed up again with CEIN for a new project involving sustainable community agroforestry.

ITF is supporting CEIN to network and receive advice from the nearby organisation VI Agroforestry. Capacity building is an important part of our work, and we are pleased to support CEIN’s worthwhile work and improve their impacts.

Kakamega County has a high rate of consumption of tree products (timber and other) which has led to large numbers of trees being felled and a need to protect endangered indigenous tree species.

To address these issues, this project aims to increase forest cover by planting at least 15,000 trees, contributing to national forest sector policies, which advocate for 10% forest cover on private or public land.

CEIN will encourage agroforestry, a form of agriculture that incorporates the planting trees as well as crops, to help improve local livelihoods. Fodder and fruit trees will be planted that can be used to improve local diets, feed local livestock, provide income generation opportunities or as a source of nutrition for local communities suffering from HIV.

This project has been made possible with funding by Wessanen UK and we are excited to track its progress.