Forestry - a plea for the shamba system

Kenya’s forest cover has reduced drastically since independence. However, this reduction is not caused by the much debated shamba system.

The forests in Kenya can be divided into two broad categories of natural (indigenous) forests and plantation forests. The natural forests are sub-divided into forests on mountains, lowland forests and at the coast and forests in the dry lands. Some indigenous forests are remnants of the rain forests stretching from Kenya to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Plantation forests on the other hand are found mainly in the highlands of the Rift Valley, in the Mau complex and parts of western Kenya. These forests are in reality crops of exotic trees.

Before 1897, Kenya did not have any plantation forests. These were introduced for two main reasons: to supply fuel to the train’s steam engines and to provide timber for construction.

It goes without saying that indigenous forests were cleared to make way for these exotic tree plantations. And for this, a lot of labour was needed. To limit the cost of labour, the colonial government imported a plantation system from Burma (now Myanmar). This system has developed into what we commonly refer to as the shamba system.

In the shamba system, neighboring communities assist in the establishment of forest plantations while growing their own crops such as maize or beans. The Forest Department has elaborate rules on how the shamba system should operate. If these are followed, the system works very well. Indeed, the shamba system remains the best and cheapest way of establishing forest plantations.

In February 2001 the government declared its intention to reallocate 167,000 acres of forestland and ban the shamba system. As this intention was declared, some land had already been allocated to individuals and companies. A case in point is that of Ngong and Karura forests. These two forests are threatened not by the shamba system, but by the “developers” who seem to be everywhere and yet invisible.

A well-known forest scholar Dr. John Kaboggoza, at the Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation Makerere University, Uganda, was astounded when he heard that Kenya had stopped the shamba system. “How will you establish forest plantations without the shamba system? The forest adjacent communities will dislike forests intensely and even burn them down!” he said.