The Kenya National Bamboo Workshop

1. Group 2
Sustainable Resource Management &
Landscape Restoration

2. Members
1. Gordon Sigu
2. J.M Njuguna
3. Chika Sasahara
4. Shiribwa Mwanga
5. Ben Oucho
6. Elija Ojijah
7. James Maua
8. John Oloo
9. Philip Dinga
10. Elizabeth Diego

3. Introduction
• For sustainable resource management and
Landscape restoration the focus is on
– Land
– Water
– Human and economic resources
Prioritization of degraded landscapes for
restoration
Restoration to be countrywide

4. STRENGTH
• Existence of naturally growing bamboo and
newly introduced species
• Availability of resources land, water and
human resources
• Water as a resource : rivers, lakes, oceans ,
dams
• Updating of status of water resources for
bamboo intervention

5. Strength continues
• Existence of degraded areas for restoration
• Existence of vast experience and expertise on
bamboo
• Favorable climatic condition for bamboo
development
• Environment issues embedded in the
constitution an vision 2030
• Some counties have adopted bamboo growing

6. Weaknesses
• Limited information sharing on bamboo
growing in Kenya
• Low adoption by farmers on bamboo growing
• Uncontinued training and follow up by TOT
• Protection of bamboo from livestock and
forest fires
• Very expensive taxes on bamboo equipment
• Unstructured Bamboo markets

7. Opportunities
• Water resources available for bamboo growing
• Restoration of riverbank by planting bamboo
along riverlines
• Use of print, electronic, socio media for
information sharing and awareness creation
• There is a lot of interest on bamboo
• Updating database on bamboo with key
parameters and sharing information online at a
fee

8. Opportunities Cont
• Engagements with county government and
other stakeholders on bamboo growing and
marketing
• Include use of bamboo as a priority and
budget for it in the county
• Growing political good will on bamboo
• Establish demonstration plots in counties for
promoting bamboo (initiatives)

9. Opportunities cont
• Link up with the Ministry to encourage
planting of bamboo in areas of restoration
(mining)
• Pro environment institutions and NGOS
• PPP in bamboo growing, management and
utilization
• Strengthening the value chain of bamboo
• Multiplicity of bamboo products

10. Opportunities Cont’
• Counties that have adopted bamboo growing
to be used as case studies
• Focus on result oriented policies on bamboo
• Collaborate on capacity building on bamboo
expertise KEFRI INBAR KFS and other
stakeholders
• Lobby government to lower taxes, exemptions
provide incentives on forestry products
related to bamboo

11. Opportunities Cont
• Bamboo nurseries provides business
opportunities and livelihoods

12. Threats
• Conflicts on use of bamboo for water
resources
• Enforcement of the Agric , WRM Act on the
riparian reserve
• Bamboo growing is not popular because of
policy gaps
• Ignorance on sustainable resource use on land
restoration
• Species to site matching

13. Threats Cont´
• Lack of established bamboo markets for
producers
• Beliefs , traditions and culture on agro forestry
• Population pressure and food insecurity
leading to alternatives to bamboo
• Small scale farmers are unable to integrate in
the farming system
• Political interference – declaration

14. Threats Cont
• Once bamboo is planted uprooting becomes
difficult
• Cutting down of bamboo and clearing land for
resettlements and agriculture
• Some species if not well managed become
invasive weeds

15. Recommendations
1. Creation of awareness and advertisements by
KFS on logging and policies in media
2. Enhance collaboration with various stakeholders
in improving forest cover by growing bamboo
3. Enhance networking and information sharing on
bamboo
4. Involvement of children, youth and women in
bamboo growing as alternative livelihood source
for sustainability

16. Recommendation Cont
• Smaller machines for smaller scale processing
to be spread across the country .