A Mau Forest Sawmill – No Water No Life

Interviewee

Frederic Chege Wdogo

Kiratu Sawmill; Director

Simon Nugugi

Kiratu Sawmill, Manager

Interviewers

Alison M. Jones

NWNL Director and Photographer

Alison M. Fast

Videographer

In Elburgon, Mau Forest, Kenya, on September 22, 2009

Introductory Note

While touring the Mau Forest, we saw signs for small sawmills, large timber mills, and huge piles of strong logs – stripped, sawed and waiting to be sold. We also saw empty forests being farmed, despite the new arid conditions of soil lacking the forest’s former ample supply of nutrients.

While sawmills could be seen as the antagonist in this tale, this interview revealed the plight of independent sawmills’ best efforts to support local firewood needs, and their struggle to survive and continue supplying local employment opportunities.

Outline

TREES USED for HARVESTS
RECYCLING SAWDUST & SHAVINGS
EMPLOYMENT CHALLENGES
CHANGES TO SUPPORT THE MAU
ELECTRICITY – AN EXPENSIVE OPTION
OPTIONS for SETTLERS
ENSURING TREES for FUTURE HARVEST
GOVERNMENT FORESTS v SMALL-SCALE MILLS
NEEDING SUPPORT & SOLUTIONS

Key Quote We don’t deal with the Forestry Department; we don’t cut indigenous trees; and there are not enough small-scale farmers to help supply trees. Seedlings we give farmers take 30 years to mature. We need trees to stay in business, and the Mau needs to be restored to supply water for the country. But firewood is needed so people can cook. — Frederic Chege Wdogo

TREES USED for HARVESTS

NWNL Hello, Mr Wdogo. As Manager of Kiratu Sawmill, you are the perfect person to tell us about the history and present activities of this sawmill, and of others here in the Mau Forest.

We came here to learn how the sawmills in this region help protect the Mau Forest because I think there’s been a misunderstanding that the sawmills here are cutting down the indigenous forest. My first question is how long has this mill been here? And my second question is where do your trees come from?

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO We’ve been here 15 years. Secondly, our trees don’t come from forest. They come from “shambas” – our Swahili word for farms.

We are now dealing with small-scale farmers who own the shambas that were part of the estates full of trees. Now, those trees are mature and ready for harvesting. They’re the logs they are sending to us and that we bring here for their sawing.

Previously, we used to get trees from the Government Farm plantations. But a ban was placed in 1994 that stopped harvesting trees in the forest. So, we stopped taking those trees.

NWNL Now you harvest farmed wood to sell. Who buys that wood?

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO When we get the trees, we saw them here. From the timber we get, we make doors, bindings and furniture with machines for doing that. We sell them to contractors for domestic and business uses which complement building purposes.

RECYCLING SAWDUST & SHAVINGS

NWNL I see behind me big piles of saw dust. What is that used for?

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Some people use that saw dust there for the boilers. The other piles are used for mosquito coils. Plus, others we supply with saw dust use it for domestic uses and for ships and boats. We also have and market wood shavings.

NWNL Yes, I understand they have many purposes, from fodder for the chickens to those coils I use to keep mosquitoes away. It’s also used for furniture and construction, but I understand none of it is used for fuel wood. Is that right?

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Well, people do use sawdust now for fuel wood for cooking in this time of crisis.

NWNL Ah, did I hear you provide that for your employees?

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Yes. We don’t sell to them. They get it free.

NWNL So, that helps prevent your employees and their families from going up into the forest and cutting more trees.

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Yeah, yeah – and we usually give them our byproducts from sawing trees to use for firewood in their homes.

EMPLOYMENT CHALLENGES

NWNL I understand you have around 50 employees. What did they do before you opened 15 years ago to provide a new source of employment for these people?

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Well, before the wood-cutting ban, we had almost 100 employees. But with the ban, we could no longer support them. So, some went into farming. We have don’t have permanent employees now. When we have some trees, we just contact our people. They do their piece of work; we pay them and then they leave.

CHANGES TO SUPPORT THE MAU

NWNL You work in this timber business, but you also live here. What do you see as solutions to protecting the forest environment – the source of so many rivers including the Mara River? What will happen if the forest disappears? What is best thing that could happen to support the Mau Forest?

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO This forest affects a lot of people. If we look widely we see this happening to many people on many rivers. For instance, the Nile is Egypt and Egypt is the Nile. When we had indigenous trees, our farming was good. We didn’t have cash crops like maize, but we had potatoes.

NWNL It seems you feel a sense of responsibility, given what’s happening here at the source of these rivers and further on impacting the people down along Lake Victoria – perhaps even extending via the Nile River, out to the Mediterranean Sea.

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Yes. We should do something to save the Mara and the indigenous trees in the forest. There are others to be used for commercial purposes, like pine and blue gum – also called eucalyptus. But we didn’t rely on blue gums very much until recently. Now, we are using them.

NWNL So, is eucalyptus becoming more popular?

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Yes, it is becoming more popular now. Some people are using them for timber, and others as firewood for boilers that the bigger companies have.

NWNL Why do you like eucalyptus now? What is good about that wood?

SIMON NUGUGI Those trees are good.

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO But, they bring a lot of inconveniences, and many customers prefer the softer wood of cypress and pine.

NWNL Is eucalyptus good firewood for cooking and heating food?

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO It is good. We split some of the logs into pieces so that they can be used in domestic use. But big companies can use eucalyptus in their boilers.

ELECTRICITY – AN EXPENSIVE OPTION

NWNL There are many, many people in Kenya who rely on firewood for cooking. So, it’s going to be difficult to put all of Kenya on electricity and electrical gas stoves. So, how can the government of Kenya best support all the people who have no electricity or gas for cooking? How can they give them the firewood they need for cooking? And where will that firewood come from for the millions of people in Kenya who need to cook with wood for fuel?

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Well, it’s a big challenge. Perhaps they can ration the modern technology of charcoal which they are using. They can’t all have electricity. You’ve seen that we are rationing electricity now, due to the drought. Mondays we don’t get power. That causes many inconveniences for us.

NWNL Yes, electricity is cut off Mondays and Thursdays here.

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Due to this drought, water levels are falling. That affects the turbines since water is what turns the turbines on.

NWNL Ah, Kenya’s electricity comes mostly from hydropower. Thus, when the rivers are low, then hydropower can’t be produced.

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Yes, exactly. And the generators are very expensive to use. They cost a lot nowadays, and like diesel, petrol is very high. Small companies can’t afford to use them. Only the big companies can.

NWNL But today, most of the people in Kenya need firewood. And they will for many years. So, it seems Kenya must find a way to supply firewood.

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Yes, we must look for the supplies. We must restore the forests so that they can have firewood.

OPTIONS for SETTLERS

NWNL If you were President or Prime Minister, today, what would you do? What decision would you make about the Mau Forest?

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO I would restore it immediately. The forest should return to the way it was. It shouldn’t be a forest for the settlers who are there now. The government should settle them elsewhere. The government does have some lands which are not inhabited.

NWNL Would you take everybody out of the Mau Forest?

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Well, we can see how it goes. There are some families that have been there for a long time. But we could take away the newer settlers, not just removing everybody at go, but there are some who can go easily. Some who have lived there have a farm somewhere else. Others don’t have that option. They are genuine settlers. But there are very few of those there. They alone could not have destroyed the forest the way it has been destroyed.

ENSURING TREES for FUTURE HARVEST

NWNL How is your business going – on days you have electricity?

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO At present, it is not good because our expenses are so high. Thus, you see many trees piled up in our yard. And our sources for getting them is a distance from here, so we have high expenses for transportation.

NWNL Is there an effort being made to farm more trees nearby? Is anybody trying to set up new farms for trees?

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Yes, there are farmers planting eucalyptus, and we have some cypress seed beds also. We used to supply seeds to our neighbors for free. And the trees you see around this place have grown from our seed beds.

NWNL How long does it take for a cypress to grow from a seed to be big enough to be worth your cutting it?

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Around thirty years. It’s a long time, but it’s important we wait to harvest only mature cypress, while and let others keep growing. We must keep on rotating our forests and seeding new trees, with the help of the settlers.

GOVERNMENT FORESTS v SMALL-SCALE MILLS

NWNL Timsales is allowed to cut in the government plantations here on the Mau and manage their own plantations.

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO The small-scale farmers and new businesses are not allowed in the government plantations – just the big companies can go there.

NWNL How many timber mills and sawmills are there in this region around the Mau Forest?

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Well, there are many sawmills around here. But many are closed. There are 3 here that are not functioning. In other parts of the Mau, I think we have 7, but only 2 or 3 are functioning now.

NWNL They aren’t functioning because it’s hard to find the wood?

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Yes, finding the trees and paying the expenses of transporting logs to to a sawmill is prohibitive. Many people can’t afford to get the timber for their mill. You need a large, successful company to transport trees from a long distance.

NWNL So, there are only 2 large-scale sawmills; and the rest of you are…

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO … just small scale, and very independent.

NWNL The trees here in your sawmill are not from the indigenous forests – nor from Kenya Government’s forestry plantations since you have no permission.

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Right, we don’t have permission for that.

NWNL You, and Kenya as a whole, are facing many challenges. You don’t take trees from indigenous forests, and you aren’t permitted to take from Forestry Department’s Mau Forest plantations. Your only supply comes from small-scale farmers, meaning you can neither be profitable nor meet local settlers cooking needs. Kenya will truly struggle if there is not enough wood. And you say new trees take 30 years to grow. There seems to be no easy answers to this situation.

NEEDING SUPPORT & SOLUTIONS

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO We are limited. We don’t deal with the Forestry Department; we don’t cut indigenous trees; and there are not enough small-scale farmers to help supply trees. Seedlings we give farmers take 30 years to mature. We need trees to stay in business, and the Mau needs to be restored to supply water for the country. But firewood is needed so people can cook.

SIMON NUGUGI The Nile provides for the Egyptians. Sudan provides for itself, as do Uganda and Tanzania. But here in Kenya, if there is no Mau, then there is no water and no life. We want to be supported. We want the government to plant trees in the Mau to support Kenya and so the forest can store water and thus we can have electricity.

NWNL Simon, you’re saying this is an international problem.

SIMON NUGUGI Yes, this is an international problem for us, but not just Kenya. The water for the Mara River starts from Mau Forest, then it goes to Lake Victoria. From Lake Victoria, it goes to River Nile, then from River Nile it goes to Egypt. So, there’s no water. If there is no water, no life. That is a big problem for all of us.

NWNL Frederick and Simon, I wish you both and your company good luck and good fortune. What you’re doing is important. It supports you, supports your 50 employees, and it helps the country.

FREDERICK CHEGE WDOGO Yes, we are helping many Kenyans. Thank you for what you are doing also.

Posted by NWNL on June 6, 2024.
Transcription edited and condensed for clarity by Alison M. Jones.

A Mau Forest Sawmill Mara River Basin