The Agricultural Society of Kenya Mombasa branch is carrying out a week-long tree-planting exercise at the Mombasa showgrounds.
The exercise in partnership with the County government and other stakeholders will see the number of trees at the showgrounds increase.
Speaking at the showgrounds at the kickoff of the tree-planting exercise during the National Tree Planting holiday, Mombasa ASK Chair Anisa Abdalla said the trees will boost the environment at the grounds.
“Our stakeholders like Kenya Seed and the Dairy Board of Kenya have agreed to provide us with seedlings which will be planted throughout this period. We need trees at the showgrounds,” said Anisa.
The Mombasa ASK Chair said most of the trees planted on the grounds on Monday were indigenous.
“We planted a few date trees and what we plan to plant here are medicinal trees,” she said.
Also at the exercise was Sheikh Zuberi Noor from the Council of Elders who urged religious institutions to play a role in tree planting in their surroundings.
“Let us plant trees during the festivities and worship, for example, every Muslim should ensure they plant a tree on Fridays,” said Sheikh Zuberi.
Dairy Board of Kenya Regional Manager (Coast) Batholome Mukanga encouraged farmers to plant trees.
“The dairy industry is the most affected when it comes to tree planting and tree cover. Cow dung produces a lot of carbon which contributes to climate change, so we are here to partner with other stakeholders in tree planting so that we can mitigate climate change,” said Mukanga.
The DBK coast region boss encouraged farmers to reduce their herd size and just have a few cows with a high production rate.
“We are also encouraging the use, reuse, and recycle model. When you have cows, produce biogas which you can use for electricity and also manure for your farms,” said Mukanga.
Meanwhile, Mombasa County Director of Agriculture Daniel Imunya says the trees planted at the Mombasa Showgrounds on Monday have a great chance of survival given the state of the soil.
“This place is very fertile, we have virgin soil that has never been utilized which means all trees we plant here will grow,” said Imunya.
“Throughout this exercise, I am going to bring a diversity of trees from fruit trees, to wood trees,” he added.
