Forestry CS nominee Soipan Tuya shares her views on controversial ‘Shamba System’

Appearing for vetting before a 15-member-committee in parliament on Wednesday, Tuya clarified that the ministry will embody the dictates enshrined in the Forest Management Act of 2016 which allow the Kenya Forest Services to work with communities adjacent to forests.

Through a scheme dubbed Plantation Establishment and Livelihood Support (PELIS), Tuya noted that communities will be allowed to access commercial plantation forests/ man-made and plant short-term crops alongside tree seedlings provided by the forest services.

"We have a process of engagement where there will be collaboration between the Kenya Forest Service and the communities adjacent to the forest in participatory forest management agreements where the communities are allowed to collaborate in restoration of plantation forest. Under our gazetted forests, 96% consists of the natural forests and 4% consists of commercial plantation forests,' said Tuya.

"PELIS is operated within the commercial plantation and not the natural plantation forest where communities have access and once their plantations are cleared they are given seedling by the forest service, they plant the tress alongside short-term crops."

Maize plantations however, Tuya added, are not allowed to be grown within the agreement.

Tuya underscored that the scheme's primary objective is to achieve a sustainable way of involving the community in restoring forests and in return generate a source of livelihood to the communities.

The Shamba System enables farmers to enter areas of depleted forest with the intention of cultivating crops and raising young trees until they are ready to be removed.

The colonial government introduced this farming method in Kenya in 1910, with the goal of satisfying the rising demand for timber while reducing the strain on natural forests.

Since the farming was done in depleted plantation forests, the program run by the Kenyan Forestry Service initially worked well.

The abuse of the practice through illegal logging and land grabbing for political gain, however, came to be routinely ignored by succeeding governments after independence as the years passed.