Back in 2014, the Green Belt Movement (an organisation that promotes tree planting for environmental conservation) introduced bamboo farming to a group of women in Maragua, a venture that has turned out to be lucrative.

Previously the women used to engage in farming but were frustrated by dwindling food production caused by the changes in climate change. Reduced and unreliable rainfall saw them get minimal or no harvest over several seasons.

Julia Wangari, a member of Mariki omen group said she used to grow maize, beans and bananas which she would sell and get some cash to sustain her family but the decline in production saw her sink into financial hardship as she had very little or nothing to sell.

“Years back I used to get a bountiful harvest and I had enough food for my family and sold out portions to get money for other needs. Other times we would get no harvest and this forced us to dig deeper in our pockets to buy food” Wangari said.

Mary Njeri another member said she used to grow vegetables but due to inadequate rainfall she abandoned the venture.

“I fully relied on the rains for my farming because we had no irrigation water in the area and my crops dried up due to the dry spells” she said.

Njeri says she survived on casual jobs to fend for her family but was not lucky to get one always.

The women however got a new lease of life when the Green Belt Movement introduced bamboo farming to them in 2013.

After training on how to plant and manage bamboo, the women were also taught how to make various products for sale.

Items they make include tiles, cooking sticks, fencing poles, baskets, drinking straws, bowls, bracelets and necklaces which they sell to the locals and people who visit the area.

Wangari who is the group chairlady says that at first, they were involved in planting trees in schools and by the river banks but the returns were minimal.

“We are able to make good money which we use to cater for our basic needs and pay for our children’s school fees” she added.

Wangari says that they make the items manually, but if they got a modern machine, it would make their work easier and help them make more products.

Besides being a source of income, bamboo also serves as a source of fuel for these women thus saving on cutting down trees for firewood.

Charcoal burning

She observed that women in the area would spend three to four hours fetching firewood but this is now in the past as bamboo is readily available leaving them with time to engage in other activities.

“We don’t cut down trees for firewood or charcoal burning instead we use bamboo as the alternative source of energy” Wangari stated.

Initially only 24 women had been trained and they were to pass the knowledge to other women in the area. The number has grown to approximately 800 members.

 Green belt is helping in the establishment of bamboo nursery through which the women can be selling the seedlings and earn an extra coin.

Marion Kamau, the chairlady of the Green Belt Movement, says this is the first project by the organisation seeking to economically empower women.

Kamau says bamboo has a huge economic potential which is yet to be unleashed, adding that if adopted, it could be a game changer for the country.

Given that bamboo grows at a very fast rate, she said, it ensures one of constant supply of the materials that they require and thus saving on tree cutting.

Kamau further says that the movement has engaged over 5,000 groups of women in tree planting in a bid to increase the forest cover.

Studies conducted

Job Kareithi, a climate change expert, noted that planting bamboo can help tame global warming.

 He says the bamboo which is technically a grass has gigantic potential to absorb carbon emissions compared to other trees.

 He says several studies have been conducted on bamboo which has been recognised as a carbon sink and storage making it a perfect solution for the phenomenon.

 The expert says the plant grows really fast at an estimated rate of 1.2 meters a day and its capacity to absorb carbon increases when the plants are regularly harvested and managed making it the best buffer against climate change.

“Bamboo planted on a quarter acre can absorb 400 tons of carbon annually and this shows how effective it can be in fighting climate change” he said.

In addition, the extensive roots help prevent soil erosion and also absorb toxic minerals in water.

Kareithi further says that even as the government focuses on increasing the forest cover, adopting bamboo planting would come in handy as it has a handful of benefits.

Kenya has in place the National Climate Change Action Plan and National Adaptation Plan which outlines the measures to be taken in adaptation and mitigation to climate change.

National bamboo policy

Sadly, he says very few of the stipulated measures have been implemented and this has seen the people bear the brunt of the effects of global warming among them dry spells and floods.

A report on Climate Change Response Programme in the Ministry of Environment says the government has adopted various measures to fight global warming amongst them being the planting of bamboo trees.

National Bamboo Policy 2019  was formulated by the ministry to help propagate the agenda.

The policy seeks to promote large- scale growing of bamboo for several reasons among them; economic sustainability, green growth, promoting clean and healthy environment as well as reducing over reliance on trees.

It indicates that Kenya has an estimated 133,273 hectares of land covered by bamboo plantations, 95 percent of it being stacked in the mountain ranges and forests.

The report also highlights some of the challenges hindering adoption of bamboo planting among them; inadequate research on the plant, low level of technology adoption, inadequate supply of quality planting materials and high prices of seedlings.