The Green Thinking party has told off Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua who directed farmers to adopt the controversial ‘Shamba’ system.
Speaking in Nairobi, the party’s chair Isaac Kalua said introducing the shamba system in Kenya will be detrimental to the environment and will also lead to the destruction of the forest cover and water towers
“Many countries now bear witness to the unsettling phenomena of rivers, canals, and water reservoirs that are drying up on account of droughts and heat waves occasioned by climate change. Kenya is no exception. “, Kalua warned
He said that instead of using Forests for cultivation which covers only ten percent there is need for the country to focus on the 80 per cent of land not covered with forests to use it in initiating farming projects.
The ban was imposed in January 2021 by the previous regime terming it a major factor in environmental degradation in the country.
“Instead of opening up our forests for human settlements, we should in fact fence all our major forests. When this was done in Masai Mau parts of Mau Forest, it led to regeneration of the forest. The Kenya Water Towers Agency has already called for the fencing of Kenya’s Water Towers that comprise of major forest blocs.”Kalua said
To cover one per cent of the Forest cover in Kenya there is need to plant 580 million trees, as the country loses 150 million trees due to logging annually., added Kalua
