Seed money for lucrative tree growing trade

I bought my first Mercedes from trees and so can you! I nurtured and sold thousands upon thousands of tree seedlings. It was all about reaching a critical mass and selling the trees en masse in their hundreds of thousands as opposed to hundreds.

According to the Kenya Forest Service, there is a growing local market of 100 million tree seedlings annually. Since these are normal as opposed to specialised tree seedlings, they are sold for about Sh25, earning Sh2.5 billion. I suggest that you participate in this guaranteed Sh2.5 billion cake. You ask, how do I participate in baking it.

An area of about half an acre with sufficient water can potentially yield a minimum of 100,000 tree seedlings within nine months. For starters, get the right seeds or rootstocks either from existing trees or available dealers. These are then planted in seedbeds that have been prepared to required standards. The seedlings are later packaged in bags for ease of carrying.

The process from seed to mature seedling is not complicated but it requires huge doses of both brain and brawn work. A full time staff of three should be enough to tend a 100,000 seedling nursery.

Their work will include seed sourcing, seedbed preparation, soil collection, soil sieving, potting, planting, shading, weeding, watering, pruning, manure application and overall nurturing. These tasks entail an 8 to 5 job with hands-on supervision. Hands-on can also mean investment into tree nurseries even from the diaspora!

The brain aspect of a tree nursery has to do with seed selection and market establishment. Certain specialised tree seedlings can fetch between Sh300 and Sh1,000. Such seedlings include rare trees like sandlewood, Bamboo and fruit trees like mangoes.

You can never go wrong with these A-class tree seedlings. One hundred thousand such tree seedlings will give you a cool thirty million! Your cost will be in the region of 30 per cent.

The news gets even better. With extra patience, special ceremonial or landscape seedlings that are much bigger can fetch as high Sh20,000. Such trees offer ‘instant shade’ in that they can be full grown in two years and are therefore in huge demand from landscape architects or event organisers for high profile tree planting events. Certain indigenous species of trees and palm trees are huge favourites.

Brain work also means nurturing an assortment of ordinary Sh25 seedlings, Sh300 to Sh1,000 seedlings plus high end Sh20,000.

If the 100,000 seedlings are grouped equitably into these three categories, you will have invested sufficient brain work into your tree nursery and will definitely reap handsome rewards.As an icing on the cake, once well guided you can specifically collect tree seeds for anywhere from Sh2,000 to Sh5,000 a kilo. Seeds for trees like grevillea, and various indigenous trees are particularly lucrative.

Even as you make green money, the inherent conservation value of trees remains priceless. Let us never tire of growing them. Think green, Act green!