Artisanal miners in Kakamega have been encouraged to plant bamboo trees in an effort to rehabilitate degraded mining sites.
A scientist from the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI), Bernard Yegon, said that bamboo trees help in absorbing some toxic chemicals released into the soil as a result of mining activities.
He said that once planted, the trees will also help in restoring soil structure, and communities can use the trees for other economic activities.
Yegon was speaking to KNA during the KEFRI Kakamega sub-center open day held on Thursday, where the organization showcased various technologies.
The Assistant Director of KEFRI, Lake Victoria Basin Eco-Region Research Programme, Dr. Leila Ndalilo, noted that the organization conducts proper site-species matching on tree growing to ensure the right trees are planted in the right areas.
She also said that scientists always carry out soil testing to ensure the soil where trees are planted is robust enough to support tree-growing activities and to supplement the efficient nutrients in the soil.
“We provide continuous technical backstopping to tree-growing activities on farmlands with an aim of making farmers depend on their farms for trees and tree products and reducing the pressure of overexploitation in the natural forests among other forest ecosystems,” she added.
Dr. Ndalilo also noted that KEFRI has done extensive research and identified technologies to manage the invasive species like the Guava, Cestrum, and Dodder within the Kakamega Forest.
“Dodder is a thread-like parasitic plant that wraps around host trees, attaching to them and extracting nutrients. With time it weakens and kills the host,” she noted.
She said, “The first remedy we encourage is physical removal of these species, but we also have biological control methods, like for the Guava we recommend growing alongside Harungana madagascariensis species as a biological control.”
The KEFRI Director also said that the organization has developed technologies for propagating Mukombero trees to enable farmers to use the propagation techniques to plant in their farms for sustainable utilization to reduce exploitation pressure on the natural forest.
“We have also developed technologies for integrated pest and disease management; we train farmers on how to control these pests and diseases using biological control methods, using preventive measures, and also using some bit of chemical control measures,” she explained.
By Moses Wekesa
