NAIROBI, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Josiah Arap Tanui recalls the days when he and other members of his community would venture into Mau Forest, Kenya's largest water tower, cutting down trees for firewood and allowing their livestock to graze indiscriminately.
"We cut down trees for their logs and to build beehives," said Tanui who hails from the northwestern Kenyan county of Nakuru, where agricultural activities prevail.
Nakuru County is one of the regions intersected by the Mau Forest Complex, regarded as the most vital of Kenya's five main water towers due to its significant economic, social, and environmental contributions, according to government reports.
Over the last decades, at least 25 percent of Mau forest has been lost to excisions and encroachment.
This alarming trend has led Tanui and other members of his community to seek alternative sources of income to reduce their reliance on the forest. "My focus has now shifted to the sustainable honey business so that I can preserve the forest," Tanui said during a recent interview.
Tanui is not new to the honey business, as he had done this trade for a while, but he was not doing it sustainably, he admits, saying that he would cut down trees to access hives.
"After I received training on bio enterprise this year, I have learned the importance of using modern beehives and doing things the right way so that I can make my business more profitable," said Tanui.
The project to support farmers within the South Western Mau ecosystem with alternative sources of income to reduce forest reliance is being implemented by the Kenya Forest Service, a state agency, alongside the charitable organization Rhino Ark and UK-based Darwin Initiative.
The idea of the initiative is to avail other forms of socioeconomic activities to reduce the pressure of forest resources, says Benard Kibet, an official from Rhino Ark.
"One of the initiatives is beekeeping, the other is supporting the rebuilding of Community Forest Association (CFA) and finally a community scout program that creates employment and ensures the forest is safeguarded against any threat," Kibet added.
More than 40 farmers in the area participated in the specialized honey program, including Grace Cheplongei, a member of the Ndoinet Beekeepers Association who is learning the ropes of the trade.
"During my last harvest, I got ten kg of honey which I sold for 100 shillings (about 78 U.S. cents) per kg. With the newfound knowledge I hope to make more in my next harvest," said Cheplongei.
She observed that in the past, beekeeping was male-dominated as only men could climb trees, but now she is encouraged that modern ways of farming bees for honey have created an opportunity for women to tap into the profitable business.
Like Tanui, Cheplongei used the forest unsustainably in the past, but now she is turning a new leaf.
Benson Njoroge, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development who is leading the training, says the government is keen to support alternative sources of income.
"People are compelled to use natural resources unsustainably due to lack of income. In areas like the Mau, we are teaching sustainable beekeeping, to discourage harming the environment," Njoroge said.
Between 2000 and 2020, Kenya lost around 2,850 square kilometers of forest cover where 80 percent of the loss happened in humid forests like Mau and others, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Daniel Maritim is spearheading a community forest association which is a gazetted organization given access to use forest resources with some reservations. The association has recently set up a tree nursery to support rehabilitation efforts and employ locals.
"We have over 20,000 tree seedlings in the community tree nursery which can restore about 20 hectares of degraded forest. We are encouraging community members to purchase the seeds to restore forest cover," said Maritim, chairperson of Ndoinet Community Forest Association in Kuresoi South, Nakuru County.
The association has also trained eight scouts to protect the forest and so far their efforts have led to the rehabilitation of 30 acres (about 12 hectares) of degraded land.
"We are making efforts to open up the forest for ecotourism because this is a potential that has never been exploited in order to support the community with a source of income," said Maritim. ■
