Woman rep Njeri Maina donates energy-saving jikos to Kirinyaga residents in solidarity with tree planting drive

Some of the beneficiaries of the energy-saving jikos under the 'Jaza Miti' initiative wait to collect tree seedlings ahead of the Monday national tree-planting holiday. [Courtesy]

A section of Kirinyaga residents have received a donation of energy-saving jikos as a way of mitigating climate change.

The initiative which is a partnership of the Woman Rep's office Njeri Maina in partnership with the Ministry of Energy seeks to encourage the residents to be champions of tree planting drive.

Maina told the Standard dubbed 'Jaza Miti, the initiative is an effort by President William Ruto seeking to plant at least 15 billion trees by 2032 in a bid to counter climate change issues.

"I want to encourage the residents of Kirinyaga County to be front runners in this drive. In partnership with the Ministry of Energy, we have distributed over 50,000 seedlings and energy-saving jikos to continue supporting the president in the tree-planting initiative," she said.

According to her, every beneficiary of an energy-saving jiko must plant at least 10 trees during the nationwide exercise that starts on November 13, 2023.

"This initiative will be continuing throughout the year as it is a running program under the office of the woman representative," said Maina.

This comes a day after Environment Cabinet Secretary Soipan Tuya appealed to Kenyans to buy seedlings from organisations selling them at the community level ahead of the Monday holiday which is dedicated to planting trees.

Tuya said that by doing so, the country will achieve the targeted 100 million seedlings to be planted on Monday.

"There are millions of seedlings in private nurseries run by women and youth groups in Community Forest Association and Community Based Organisations across the country available at a fee. I urge all Kenyans to buy a seedling or two from these nurseries and plant in our shambas," said Tuya.

The main tree planting will be conducted in Makueni County president over by President Ruto.

The president in 2022, chose to celebrate his 56th birthday by launching the national tree planting campaign.

The day marked his first 100 days in office and 30th wedding anniversary.

And on Monday, every county will have different types of seedlings depending on the environmental factors and their commercial use.

The seedlings will be divided into several intervention areas including agroforestry, arid and semi-arid, gazetted forests, coastal mangroves, and bamboo.