Planting Trees and the Kenyan Economy

The Bokobora Development Project (BDP) Tree Planting initiatives focus mainly in Naivasha, a sub-county of the greater Nakuru County of the Rift Valley in Kenya. Naivasha is home to both indigenous peoples and settlers. Amongst the settler communities are Kenyans of British extraction and Kenyans who have migrated from other parts of the nation and settled in Naivasha. The indigenous communities are mainly the Maasai, the Turkana, and the Borana. 
 

Flower farming is an economic activity mostly amongst Kenyans of British extraction who own large tracts of land around Lake Naivasha. The local communities are involved in small-scale farming which is mostly for subsistence of single households. Both types of farming mean that the largest part of the population in Naivasha relies on land resources. Sustaining the environment here is therefore critical for many reasons. To start with, flower farming is a major foreign exchange earner because it is mainly an export product. Flower farming earns Kenya approximately 1 billion US dollars billions in foreign exchange annually. In 2014, for instance, the industry contributed Kshs 54.6 billion which is a little more than half of the 2.8% of Kenyas GDP contributed by the horticulture industry.  The bulk of the flowers sold come from Naivasha. Maintaining the land resource therefore contributes to the larger Kenyan economy. 

In addition to the economic welfare of the nation, it is important to note that the smaller farms are mostly around the highlands towards the Aberdare Mountains although small farms can also be found around the Lake. As an ecosystem Naivasha is categorized as semi arid area. Farming activities in these small scale farms as well as wanton felling of trees continue to acerbate the harsh climatic conditions of a semi arid region. Bare soils increase the rate of soil erosion and in turn cause poorer crop yields. The low yields leave the households that depend of subsistence farming more susceptible to the impacts of climate change.
 
Conservation efforts such as tree planting here are not only about restoring important water towers such as the Aberdares which that impact national and regional climates; conservation efforts are also about impacting human populations. The economic impact gained from continuing replanting of trees and conserving those already in existence is immense both in terms of the economic well-being of Kenya as well as the economic well-being of individual households.