shamba system
- Thread starter wrongturn
- Start date
Mwalimu-G
Elder Lister
I always feel the government acquiesced to extremist environmentalists who went on to capture the KFS board. I feel the PELIS system is a good method of reforesting coz as much as we root for indigenous tree cover, for water conservation, we also need plantation forests for the country's timber needs. If we lack trees for timber we will cut down the indigenous trees to meet the need, beating the purpose of conservation.
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Aviator
Elder Lister
Montecarlo
Elder Lister
The shamba system: an indigenous woman fights for the rights of her community
“Local communities have to be involved in decisions about forests that affect their livelihoods,” says Tecla Chumba, a Kenyan woman from the Lembus tribe and mother of four. She set up a community forest association and asked the Kenya Forest Service to give each member half an acre of land and...
wrongturn
Elder Lister
Read the article. Imekuwa just needs streamliningThe shamba system: an indigenous woman fights for the rights of her community
“Local communities have to be involved in decisions about forests that affect their livelihoods,” says Tecla Chumba, a Kenyan woman from the Lembus tribe and mother of four. She set up a community forest association and asked the Kenya Forest Service to give each member half an acre of land and...www.unep.org
shida ni abuse of the system.
Aviator
Elder Lister
*WHAT IS THIS "SHAMBA SYSTEM" DP RIGATHI IS TALKING ABOUT??*
_*Article by Lawyer Musyimi*_
1. The Shamba System DP Rigathi talked about is an AGROFORESTRY approach approved by UNEP and already in application in Kenya.
2. It stems from acknowledgement that Local communities have to be involved in decisions about forests that affect their livelihoods.
3. An example is the Shamba System for Lembus Community in the MaU Forest where Kenya Forest Service which has been highlighted by UNEP.
4. KFS gives each member half an acre of land and tree seedlings that they could plant, alongside their own crops.
5. Members are then required to return these plots after the trees have grown for three years.
6. It is the best way to afforest land where exotic trees have been cut for timber.
7. The community benefits from being able to plant crops in exchange for planting tree seedlings and taking care of the growing trees for three years.
8. In return, the Kenya Forest Service gets a piece of land that has been reforested.
9. The community forest association and KFS set up a management plan with user rights for the members of the community forest association.
10. Members have access to the forest for firewood, beekeeping, collecting herbs and medicines and ince 2010, this shamba system has been working well.
_*Article by Lawyer Musyimi*_
1. The Shamba System DP Rigathi talked about is an AGROFORESTRY approach approved by UNEP and already in application in Kenya.
2. It stems from acknowledgement that Local communities have to be involved in decisions about forests that affect their livelihoods.
3. An example is the Shamba System for Lembus Community in the MaU Forest where Kenya Forest Service which has been highlighted by UNEP.
4. KFS gives each member half an acre of land and tree seedlings that they could plant, alongside their own crops.
5. Members are then required to return these plots after the trees have grown for three years.
6. It is the best way to afforest land where exotic trees have been cut for timber.
7. The community benefits from being able to plant crops in exchange for planting tree seedlings and taking care of the growing trees for three years.
8. In return, the Kenya Forest Service gets a piece of land that has been reforested.
9. The community forest association and KFS set up a management plan with user rights for the members of the community forest association.
10. Members have access to the forest for firewood, beekeeping, collecting herbs and medicines and ince 2010, this shamba system has been working well.
Montecarlo
Elder Lister
H
Human beings if left alone will always do what works for them so abuse of the system cannot be used as an excuse of not trying out an intervention.
Hence the need to streamline it and have Agricultural Extension officers and KWS offer supervisory services and support.
Human beings if left alone will always do what works for them so abuse of the system cannot be used as an excuse of not trying out an intervention.
Mwalimu-G
Elder Lister
Be careful with what you proffer as evidence. This reporter has scant knowledge of the subject he's writing about;
He doesn't know the difference between perennial and seasonal /annual crops.
Global warming is happening even as I write. It is not happening around Mt Elgon (or any other one corner of the earth!) because a patch of a forest has been destroyed.
What happened in Mt Elgon was a case of cheeky (stupid) farmers thinking they could tingisha miti (to borrow a phrase) so that when the seedlings dry they can have the shambas for longer. When this happens the farmers ae chased out and the land left to rewild on its own or wait until KFS has money to plant seedlings and tend them until they are out of danger of being destroyed.
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wrongturn
Elder Lister
In some places it's working well but in others it's business as usual. It's all about individuals, gava can't supervise everyone , but the relationship has to be symbiotic.
wrongturn
Elder Lister
# stolen
THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH SHAMBA SYSTEM.
This issue of shamba system stokes a lot of unnecessary emotions. Actually, this was one of the most innovative conservation ideas. But the concept was ruined by politics and environmental extremism.
For those of us who grew up around Mt Kenya forest in the 80s, 90s, 2000s we lived under the shamba system. There is no evidence that it was detrimental to the environment.
In government forests, there are indigenous portions and plantation part. In the plantation part, the trees are harvested after sometime. The indigenous forest part is never touched. Under the shamba system, when the trees are harvested people are allowed to farm on the land for sometime.
Afterwards, new trees are planted and people take care of them as they take care of their crops. Once, the trees reach a certain height, farming stops and the plantation is left on its own. Another location is thereafter harvested and the process goes on and on.
Even in your own private farm, when you establish a woodlot you don't stop farming immediately. It is the same concept.
People can only protect the forests if they benefit from them directly and indirectly. That is why the law allowed formation of Community Forest Associations (CFAs). The aim is to ensure communities neighbouring the forests benefit from the forest while protecting it from damage.
Such communities are allowed to graze animals in the forest, collect firewood, gather medicinal herbs, engage in beekeeping, ecotourism etc. Since the people benefit from the forest, they protect it from harmful activities such as charcoal burning, illegal logging and poaching by reporting such activities to the authorities.
Apart from growing up under the shamba system, I have also consulted in this area in the past.
Environmental conservation shouldn't be a win-loss affair. It can be a win-win thing. This was the case until western conservationist groups came in with extremist ideologies. These ideologies were so absurd that even grazing animals in the forest was outlawed in some cases. And yet in the forest, you need fire-break zones and grazing animals in them harms nothing.
We have been made to believe that our locally created environmental conservation ideas which have worked for decades are rubbish. Only imported ideas are to be implemented without question.
Yet the people who come with these ideas have destroyed the environment in their own countries. Why this inferiority complex which makes you demonise your working indigenous solutions for failed imported policies?
Shamba system has been working in the Mt Kenya forest even in most of 2010s before the Jubilee government started interfering with it. And yet in all those years, there has never been cases of destruction of the forest or illegal settlements.
When Jubilee government came in, crime became the law. A lot of illegal logging happened. To cover their crimes, the government decided to ban logging and stop people from collecting firewood in forests. Innocent people were punished in order to protect criminals. Harmless activities in the forests were banned. Even cutting trees in your own farm was at some point outlawed.
Ideas like shamba system and Nyayo Tea Zones were actually meant to create a buffer to protect indigenous forests. These were brilliant ideas.
The current problems with shamba system are due to the indiscipline and thuggery which has permeated every aspect of our society. Under shamba system, people are not allowed to settle in the forest. But in some places, politicians encourage settlement in forests for their selfish ends. This should never be tolerated.
Criminalisation of shamba system could only have made economic or conservation sense if all government forests were turned into purely indigenous forests without soft wood plantations or commercial woodlots of any kind.
People forget that trees are actually a renewable resource. There is nothing wrong with commercial forestry either on private or government land. Even in Western countries, commercial forestry is very big business.
But there is an absurd mentality which is creeping in that exploiting forests amounts to environmental destruction. When it comes to land, we seem to suffer from scarcity mentality which borders on insanity. We would rather waste forex importing wood products and yet we have abundant land and excellent climate to practise commercial forestry. Actually, we should be one of the largest exporters of wood products.
Emotional outbursts and simplification of issues is turning us into a fool's country. We must learn to separate noise from reality.
Mwalimu-G
Elder Lister
Actually grazing on the firebreaks helps in maintaining them otherwise plants would reclaim them.
Mwalimu-G
Elder Lister
A small historical inaccuracy: Ban on logging happened during the Kibaki administration.
Mr Black
Elder Lister
Pretty sure it is still practised in Kieni forest to-date, used to see farmers tending to their potato plants in forest blocks between rows of exotic trees. As long as KFS keeps farmers in check it works out quite well.
Mr Black
Elder Lister
Another good one from Ephraim Njega, one of this media stations should host this guy, he is quite the commentator.
Field Marshal
Elder Lister
The shamba system works wonders. It was abolished at the behest of Wangari Maathai who I think was a clueless feminazi beholden to beberuzz.
Basically, farmers are allowed to farm lands where cypress and pine have been harvested for a period of three years. During that time KFS also plants new seedlings of pine and cypress. As the farmers cultivate their crops they also palilia the trees. Because the land would have stayed for about 15 years without being planted the harvests during those three years are humongous. The farmers benefit and KFS gets it's trees at minimal cost.
Basically, farmers are allowed to farm lands where cypress and pine have been harvested for a period of three years. During that time KFS also plants new seedlings of pine and cypress. As the farmers cultivate their crops they also palilia the trees. Because the land would have stayed for about 15 years without being planted the harvests during those three years are humongous. The farmers benefit and KFS gets it's trees at minimal cost.
Aviator
Elder Lister
Exactly.
That's my area, and I can say without fear of contradiction that the system works.
Denis Young
Elder Lister
Si ungweaambia ni Ephraim Njenga ili wale watu siku hizi have turned to his wisdom watulie.
Mwalimu-G
Elder Lister
Not another whine?