This archive report was first published on 3 September 2021.
Kenya: Herbalists Face Harsh Reality as Medicinal Plant Harvesting Ban Takes Effect ¶
September 3, 2021
For decades, Grace Kosgei has collected herbal medicines from public forests to treat her patients suffering from various illnesses. The 70-year-old herbalist from Kapkanani in Nandi County has been doing this for the past 40 years without any trouble.
However, the government's recent measures to conserve public forests have made it difficult for herbalists like Ms Kosgei to access the forests and find the raw materials needed to produce traditional medicines.
'The tough conditions imposed by the Kenya Forest Service are making it difficult to harvest traditional medicines from public forests. We will not be able to treat our patients and the measures will knock us out of business,' Ms Kosgei said.
She admits that some tree species used for making traditional medicine in Nandi County face extinction due to 'wanton' harvesting, and herbalists must now travel to other counties to find them.
Herbalists in the Rift Valley region want the government to allow them to harvest trees in public forests for medicinal purposes as they participate in afforestation programmes.
'Our forefathers harvested medicinal trees in public forests without causing any destruction. Our objective is to offer alternative treatment to patients suffering from various ailments,' Ms Kosgei said.
However, public forests are being decimated for agriculture and settlement, posing a threat to medicinal plants. The government has embarked on aggressive afforestation programmes aimed at restoring forest cover so that Kenya can better cope with climate change.
'Wanton harvesting of traditional trees and replacing them with the fast-maturing exotic ones like eucalyptus, cypress and wattle is a threat to medicinal species,' Ms Kosgei said.
Many herbalists in the region must now look for medicinal trees elsewhere, including Elgeyo Marakwet, Kericho, and Kakamega counties.
Some of the medicinal plants found in the region include Dryopteris marginalis, Lepidagathis scariosa Nees, and Barleria grandicalyx Lindau.
'The costly search for the herbal plants has forced us to set down payment (chebrewa) at Sh1,000 and above. This helps us meet our travel costs,' said Mzee Zakayo Maiyo, another herbalist.
The Nandi County Assembly passed a bill in 2020 banning the growing of exotic trees like blue gum in water catchment areas and encouraging locals to grow indigenous trees to restore and protect water sources.
Nandi Environment Director James Meli said the county wants to rehabilitate a total of over 26,000 acres of public forests in the ongoing afforestation campaign.
