Kwale farmers eye international carbon credit market

Mangrove Tree Planting at Tudor Creek Mombasa. January 20, 2025. [File,Standard]

A section of farmers in three sub-counties of Kinango, Lunga Lunga, and Shimba Hills in Kwale County have embraced forest cover restoration to benefit from carbon credit funds.

Through the Restore Africa programme that is implemented by several stakeholders, including the Kwale County government and World Vision, more than 20,000 families have already been enrolled, with the target being 50,000 families and 70,000 acres of land in five years.

So far, 250,000 tree seedlings distributed by World Vision Kenya partners in the programme have been planted by farmers in the county, with the programme targeting only private farmers who are encouraged to plant trees on their farms alongside other crops.

At Patanani village in Mwareni ward, Lunga Lunga Sub County, farmers are busy tending to their farms, taking advantage of the ongoing rains to plant trees and also prune tree stumps left to dry by charcoal burners, with a focus on restoring the past glories of a green village.

Mr Said Ndaro, 70, and his 48-year-old wife, Fatuma Ndaro, said charcoal burning has depleted a once forested landscape, leaving behind drying tree stumps of indigenous trees that used to attract rain. 

“When I was a child, this area used to be fertile and with reliable rainfall, but all that was disrupted by uncontrolled logging and charcoal burning that left the land bare and exposed to erosion,” said Mr Ndaro.

He added that his wife had been recruited among a group of women for the programme, but he declined its implementation on his five-acre piece of land until that time his wife convinced him fully.

“I was not buying the idea because we had tried before to plant trees, but they dried up due to a lack of water. World Vision came and gave us the way forward, and now I am happy,” he said.

Mrs Fatuma explained how she convinced her husband to accept that the negative effects of climate change had caught up with them and that it was time to implement restorative strategies to survive.

“I embraced this programme, especially when I was taken through training and sensitisation, and I started by pruning the stumps in what the organisers called ‘visiki hai’ and watering them; hence, they started sprouting again. It was a wonderful experience to see indigenous trees growing again, and my husband was elated,” she said.

She added that under the visiki hai initiative of the Restore Africa programme, she was taught about Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), a technique that revives trees naturally without replanting them, and this enabled her to reverse environmental degradation with more than 100 tree stumps on her farm coming to life in an agroforestry style of farming.

“I was given 48 tree seedlings of different species, including mango and cypress, and we revived more than 100 tree stumps of indigenous trees that are now doing well, and according to the sensitisation programmes, we were taught how they are the best at sequestering carbon from the air. We are now waiting for the right time so that we can also taste the carbon credit money when we sell the carbon,” she said.

Among the indigenous tree species, she has revived on her farm are Mikone, Mipalanda, and Mwarobaini.

“Initially, I thought the tree stumps were some drying wastes on my farm, and I had started uprooting them to clear land for cultivation, and it was during the same period that the Restore Africa programme came and I stopped,” she added.

The story is no different for Mr Maurice Bati, the neighbour to the Ndaro’s, who said that he was now expecting to reap big from the carbon credit market in 2029.

“Farmers in this village are working hard to restore the ecosystem after the boost from the programme, and they are eagerly waiting for that time when the carbon credit markets will reach us,” he said.

Dismus Nyaga, who is the Restore Africa Manager in Kwale County, said that they were encouraging more farmers to join the programme for sustainable livelihoods since the programme does not interfere with their normal farming activities.

“In Kwale, we are targeting 50,000 families and 70,000 acres of land, and this time, everyone is talking about climate change; hence, this restoration programme is going to be a game changer. The developers will come and weigh every five years, and they will benefit every five years for the next 30 years, and the more they plant, the more they will earn,” he said.

His sentiments were echoed by Ms Vivian Kiprotich, the technical specialist for natural resource management at Restore Africa, who emphasised that planting trees was the most effective way to restore degraded lands and stabilise the changing climate.

“Our goal is to reclaim infertile lands and make them productive and beneficial for our communities. By planting trees and preserving their bases even after they are cut, we enable regrowth and long-term sustainability,” she said.

The Restore Africa initiative, spearheaded by the Global Evergreening Alliance, operates in Kenya, Uganda, and Malawi, and Kenya World Vision leads a consortium of partners, including JUSTDIGGIT, Self Help Africa, Green Belt Movement, ICRAF, and Africa Harvest, focusing on tree growing to restore degraded land and support climate-smart agriculture in at least five counties that include Kwale, Kilifi, Narok, Migori, and Elgeyo Marakwet.

The final phase of the tree-planting exercise is set to take place during the long rains of 2026, marking a crucial milestone in Kwale’s quest to restore degraded land and improve local livelihoods.