“Son, the rains failed us this season,” my father observed, standing over the land, looking at the farm: stunted maize crops on one side and shriveling rows of kales on the other, sloping down into the valley.
That spelled a difficult couple of months ahead. The family relied heavily on subsistence farming, with farm produce sent even to those in the city, to ease the pressure of the daily budget in a tightening economy.
The first time I learned how to weed, climate change was far from my mind. I was in lower primary then, and enthusiastic to help on the farm. The land was fertile then, and we’d harvest three times a year.
The hills around the village were wild bush, occupied by indigenous trees. With neighboring Ruma National Park in the Lambwe Valley, wildlife conflicts were a common menace on our farms. That was two decades ago.
Now that we, the kids, have grown and moved out into the city, and those left in the village, mostly our elders, heavily rely on modern weeding methods, from the use of herbicides to chemical fertilizers, as they are less labor-intensive.
Additionally, the harvest has been reduced, with only two reliable seasons a year, sometimes even one, as the rains become erratic and fail in some instances, leading to losses in farm input investments and food insecurity for households heavily relying on subsistence farming.
Looking across the ridge, the once wild bushes had been cleared to make room for more farmland, and in place of acacia, eucalyptus dominated the landscape, planted in almost every homestead.
As the severity of our predicament became clear, I knew it was time. We couldn’t afford to sit on the sidelines anymore. The tragedy was already here, hurting worse than ever.
Research, including from the Kenya Forestry Research Institute, shows that replacing indigenous savanna vegetation with eucalyptus plantations causes significant ecological shifts, transforming diverse landscapes into “green deserts” characterized by reduced biodiversity and altered hydrological cycles.
Moreover, eucalyptus leaves contain allelochemicals and biocide oils that inhibit the germination and growth of other plant species, creating a toxic environment for understory vegetation.
This leads to rapid nutrient depletion, especially of nitrogen, phosphorus, and calcium, rendering the soil less fertile for future indigenous growth or adjacent crops.
Despite these risks, eucalyptus remains popular among farmers for its fast growth and high economic returns as a source of fuel and timber. My own family had a plantation of the same.
