We ventured into forest farming in order to make our contribution towards re-forestation effort of government aimed at restoring forest cover and addressing current shortage of timber. The current acute shortage has led to continuous increase in timber prices.
Trees on the farm
The trees planted on the farm include pine, eucalyptus, Musizi, mangoes, bamboo, avocadoes, oranges and jackfruit among others. There are also many local species of trees that have been preserved.
Opportunities created by a forest
The forest cover has created a lot of opportunities to engage in other farming activities including growing of herbal plants and plant seedlings that require some forest cover. In addition the farm has over 50 KTB colonized beehives in the forest. The forest also provides firewood to the local community who collect dry branches that regularly drop down. We are currently creating nature walk forest paths for the visitors to the farm.
Challenges in forest farming
The major challenges in forest farming include lack of readily available quality seedlings and forest extension services.
Way forward
As a way of overcoming the above challenges , we have developed a seedling unit that has seedlings of most plants on the farm. We have also linked with forest research centers to access forest advisory services.