By Maximilla Wafula
Kenyans have been urged to plant lots of trees as a way of mitigating the now eminent climate change phenomenon. Woman Entrepreneur, Ms. Bernadette Owino, proprietor of My Belle Maison has said. She said this recently during the ECOBank Ellevate launch at a Nairobi hotel.
“People should be taught to plant more trees as they attract rain while ensuring soil fertility. It is also common knowledge that trees curb soil erosion” she said.
She observed that even as farmers cultivate food crops they should plant cover crops in order to protect soil fertility.
Ms. Owino, who left formal employment to take a leap of faith to engage in farming as an enterprise currently nurtures tree seedlings for sale at her farm in Kitengela. She has more than 1,500 grevalia and 1000 melia seedlings ready for sale. This is besides the ornamental flowers she also grows for sale.
She notes that depending on the variety, a 10 year old tree can fetch upwards of 10,000 if sold mature for timber.
Thus, her parting shot was that everyone should plant trees, even it for fun!
“People should be taught to plant more trees. It attracts more rain while trees ensure that the soil will not be eroded,” Owino said during the ECOBank Ellevate launch.