How Kenya uses charcoal coated seeds to reverse deforestation

By Nneka Nwogwugwu

Teddy Kinyajui, a Kenyan farmer discovered how charcoal coated seeds are helpful in reversing deforestation.

Speaking on what motivated him, he said, “I was delivering tree seedlings and my vehicle overheated and broke down on my way to Narok and I had to buy a new engine. I wondered why I was taking almost a ton of soil halfway across the country when people want trees. Then the issue of plastic bags, was also terrible. That’s when we decided to come up with seed balls,” Kinyanjui said.

Deforestation in the country has been a century problem with efforts to turn around the situation bearing minimal changes, at least if the statistics of the forest cover in the nation is anything to go by.

Kenya has an estimated forest cover of 7.24 percent against the recommended global minimum of 10 percent.

The innovation of seed balls by Kinyajui and his friend Elsen Karstad slowly helped restore the country’s depleted forest.

Seed balls mistakenly appear like animal dung but these are seed coated with charcoal dust.

The innovation of seed coating helps protect the seeds from animals and harsh climatic conditions.

“We have been working with Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) to manufacture indigenous tree seeds. We believe in the nature system. Seedballs can sit on the ground for months or a year, then they will be able to germinate once it rains. This is not entirely new, in ancient Egypt they used mud but we are using charcoal. The essence is to give the seed survival space,” Kinyajui said.

For Seedballs in Kenya, their innovation is a closed-loop cycle as the dust used to coat the seeds is a byproduct of the charcoal industry, which itself is a driver of deforestation.

Over 15 million seeds have been planted with the distribution mechanism being the interesting part of the initiative.

“The seed balls are not actually heavy. We just throw them away everywhere we see there is deforestation, so it is not a big deal. We use helicopters and even school-going children who throw the seeds using seed balls,” Kinyajui said.

Seedballs only contain indigenous species, mainly varieties of acacia, which are mostly felled for the quality of its wood. More than half the distributed seed balls germinate and eventually become mature trees. As the trees grow, their roots will help to anchor them to the soil.