By Peter Maina

WHILE inaugurating the 5th board of directors at the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (Kefri) in April last year, the minister for environment looked out of the window and to his surprise saw some Eucalyptus trees. “I hope those are not Eucalyptus I am seeing,” Dr Newton Kulundu told the boardroom amidst laughter and applause from the top-cream of Kenya forestry professionals. Of anybody else, he could not imagine Kefri growing Eucalyptus which are allegedly said to be water wasting and environmentally unfriendly.
Like the minister’s attitude towards the exotic Eucalyptus, many Kenyans have come to look down on the role of foreign tree species in revolutionising forestry in the country. They prefer the indigenous species to exotics saying that exotic trees are hostile to the environment. Every tree species has a certain specific role to play where it grows. The same way you could not hire a nurse to do the mechanic’s work of fixing your car engine; you cannot plant a Eucalyptus in the middle of the shamba and expect it to act like a good Kikuyu fig tree.
Planting a tree to satisfy a certain need like provision of firewood, timber, shade, humus or any other need is called recruiting a tree. A forester or farmer has to be very selective of the species in question when recruiting for his needs. Although native to Australia, Eucalyptus is today thriving better in Africa than in their original home. They were introduced into Kenya by colonialists at the turn of the century to provide ample firewood mostly to run the train steam engines. Today the Eucalyptus is the most versatile trees in the country. Eucalyptus grows to be tall and where proper pruning is done, they grow in a straight trunk. These two characteristics endear them to telephone and electricity companies looking for posts. Telkom Kenya and the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) for example, cannot imagine life without the Eucalyptus. The tree also grows relatively fast in relation to many indigenous species and in fifteen years, the farmer or forester has big volumes of wood or timber from his Eucalyptus plantations.
Although accused as a water wasteful tree, if planted away from farm crops and important waterways, the Eucalyptus do little harm to the ground water table. Indeed, because of their fast growth, an Eucalyptus can use up less water in its swift growth of ten years than an indigenous Meru oak in its thirty years lifespan. On the contrary, a farmer can make use of this water-intensive consumption of the Eucalyptus in draining unwanted water logged areas.
The sweet menthol of Eucalyptus is irresistible to manufacturers and consumers of sweets, toothpastes and skin-rubbing ointments among an increasing range of house products using Eucalyptus oil or what is more generally coming to be known as herbal-based products. And ever heard about the Eucalyptus honey made by bees feeding on the nectar of these trees? It is rated second to none in flavour and aroma. Like any other exotic or indigenous tree, if recruited at the right place, a Eucalyptus tree will be very beneficial to the farmer.
It is a surprise to hear that the first mangoes to grow in East Africa germinated from seeds carelessly
thrown about by Asian sailors after a meal. The mango tree does so well here, one can hardly believe that this is not its original home.
The number of urban areas in Kenya that are without the Jacaranda tree can be counted on the fingers of one hand. This South American tree also called the Brazilian Rosewood, has revolutionised urban forestry in Kenya with its fast growth and plume-umbrella shade. They cover the avenues very properly as you drive towards State House in Nairobi and as you enter Nakuru from Naivasha, among other places in urban Kenya. You would be at big pains telling a farmer in Central Kenya that his favourite Silk Oak popularly called Grevillea robusta or Mukima-Mubiriti is not a Kenyan but an Australian tree. It has naturalised so well in Kenya. Companies like the East African Tanners in Eldoret had their operations based on the exotic Wattle tree to yield a bark which is so rich in dark tannin. This wattle is the Australian member of the African Acacia family. One may not quickly relate the two basing the wattle’s lack of thorns on its trunk but looking at the leaves, this fact can be quickly clear. Suffice to mention one more tree of the many exotics Kenya heavily relies on to run her forestry needs by crediting our paper production to the New Zealand’s pinewood.
As Kenya embarks on a campaign to upgrade her (shameful) 1.7% forest cover to something worth talking about, she cannot afford to discriminate against exotic trees. If anything, many of them should be planted but in the right place.
The contributor is a wildlife ecologist and freelance writer based in Nairobi.