Researcher entices farmers with lucrative sandalwood in conservation drive
A police officer guards a pile of illegally harvested sandalwood. PHOTO | FILE
Kenya Forestry Research Institute (Kefri) has come up with new technologies to propagate sandalwood seedlings from its fruit to save the tree species from extinction.
Though popular with smugglers due to its international market value, the sandalwood tree has been protected under a 2007 presidential ban to allow for regeneration but now farmers are encouraged to plant it.
The sandalwood tree is exploited for the extraction of oil used as perfume with a litre fetching up to Sh250,000 in the international market while the bark of the tree contains health benefits.
Researchers at Kefri have come up with techniques such as seed and air-layering (marcotting), which are two of the major successful ways of propagating the tree.
To domesticate the tree a farmer is given the greenlight to cultivate it after mastering the propagation techniques.
However, the farmer must acquire a permit from Kefri, Kenya Wildlife Services and Kenya Forest Services.
The government is issuing out permits to farmers to grow sandalwood trees in a bid to conserve the tree as well promote commercial use.
Marcotting is the only vegetative propagation method widely used in Kenya in mass production of the tree species. It takes between 15 and 20 years to harvest oil after planting the tree, however, other technologies such as cuttings, grafting and tissue culture are under research aimed to reduce the span of maturity.
According Githu Gethi, a researcher at Kefri, the demand for sandalwood has increased over time but a lack of seedlings has seen the government encourage farmers to propagate it on large-scale.
“As the resource base declines, the market for sandalwood oil continues to grow,” he said.
Some farmers have the tree growing naturally on their farms but they do not know its economic value and as a result thieves have taken advantage of their ignorance to steal the plants for cultivation on their own farms.
The sandalwood (asyris lanceolata) is indigenous to East Africa. Its common names are muthithii in Kikuyu and mutero in Mbeere.
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