Tree regeneration restoring hope for Kenyan farmer
NAKURU, Kenya: Maurice Kaduka Lukaro, 54, is a farmer in Oljorai, an area with short grasses and small-scattered bushes in Nakuru county in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley. Crop production has declined tremendously in this region. Like the rest of the arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL) in the Sub Saharan region, Maurice Kaduka Lukaro, 54, is a farmer in Oljorai, an area with short grasses and small-scattered bushes in Nakuru county in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley. Crop production has declined tremendously in this region. Like like the rest of the arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL) in the Sub Saharan region, Kenya hosts a population worst hit by the reality of climate change. Kenya hosts a population worst hit by the reality of climate change.
Standing between two acacia trees, frequently scratching his white-patched hair, Lukaro is buoyant, however: “some four decades ago, this land used to be green. We used to witness abundant rains. But human activities have continuously caused desertification here,” he told IPS.
A village elder in Olosiro recalls the year 2000 when drought caused livestock death and humans suffered from hunger. He says last year while other farmers were facing the brunt of no rains, he had fewer problems as humidity stayed longer on his fields.
Since 2013, Lukaro has practiced Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), a model in which tree wildlings are protected and stumps coppice-pruned so they rapidly grow or re-grow into trees. As opposed to the conventional wisdom in which trees are believed to compete with crops, FMNR has increased harvests for Lukaro.
He is an active member of Oljorai FMNR group, started with the help of training offered by World Vision Kenya (WV), an international Christian humanitarian aid organisation, which helps vulnerable populations across Kenya. Lukaro is sure he knows how trees boosted his crops: They reduce the wind that blows away topsoil and provide shade to livestock, who drop manure and urine. Tree-leaf litter form humus, adding organic matter to the earth.
“I incorporate crops and trees in my farm. Before embracing FMNR, three years ago, I used to harvest eight bags of maize and one bag of beans. But last year, my harvest has shot up to 25 bags of maize,” says Lukaro, whose fields contrast with the bare, bleak ones of his neighbour, who has neatly burnt the residue from last year’s harvest and hacked away all the regenerating stumps, the key to FMNR. — IPS