NHIF to plant 53,000 trees in Elgeyo forest

Iten

Friday December 15, 2023

KNA Alice Wanjiru

The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) has partnered with the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) to plant 53,100 trees in the current financial year in Elgeyo Forest station of Keiyo North sub county in its contribution towards reaching the 15 billion national target by 2032.

The NHIF corporate communication and marketing officer Phylis Nyakiba said so far the corporation had planted 1,600 trees adding that it will spend approximately sh.8 million in the whole exercise money which will benefit the community leaving next to the forest.

Speaking in Iten, Ms. Nyakiba said the monies will go towards purchase of seedlings from local tree nurseries in addition to hiring of casual labour as part of their corporate social responsibility which will in turn improve the community economically.

The county forest conservator Paul Koech said the county with 10 forest stations covering 93,000 hectares has a backlog of 1,200 hectares with Elgeyo forest station having a backlog of 300 hectares.

 He therefore called on other organisations to emulate NHIF and partner with KFS to clear the backlog saying if more organisations join in the effort, then the entire forest can be restored to its original status in the next two to three years.

The conservator said the department conducts major tree planting exercise during the long rain season in April while during the short rains between July and December they embark on replacing the seedlings that failed to grow.

Koech added that they had put in place the required strategies to ensure that they realise over 90% survival rates citing the Plantation Establishment and Livelihood Improvement Scheme (Pelis) where farmers take care of their crops alongside the young seedlings.

He added that the farmers fence the land allocated before they start farming which protects the young trees from being destroyed by animals.

Koech said in turn, the community benefits from food production which not only improves their lives economically but also in terms of health.

Courtesy;KNA