Uasin Gishu Farmers Protest Shift in Carbon Credit Agreement, Introduction of Questionable Clauses

• Farmers in Uasin Gishu on Tuesday, May 20, staged a protest over a change of the carbon credit agreement signed in 2023
• The farmers expressed concerns with the change that included the introduction of a new entity and several controversial clauses
• They camped outside the main gate of the company they had signed the agreement with, after they were blocked from accessing their offices

Over 170 farmers from Uasin Gishu county have protested over a change of agreement between two different carbon credit companies.

Which company did Uasin Gishu farmers sign contracts with?

Addressing the press at one of the company’s gate in Eldoret, the farmers noted that they signed the first agreement with Green Planet but another entity using the name Earth Tree had come up with another agreement which they said had questionable clauses.

Led by Joseph Mosop and Hoseah Koech, the farmers expressed concerns over a move by the two companies to demand copies of their title deeds.

They questioned the motive behind the companies asking for the title deeds and vowed not to allow their officials to visit any of their land until the controversial clause is removed from the second agreement presented by the other company.

“People we don’t know are now asking for our title deeds, saying they need to search the land. This is very questionable. They want to take our land,” one of the farmers said.

According to the farmers, an earlier agreement they had signed provided for the lease of their land for 30 years, but the new firm has changed it to 45 years.

“The addition of years of lease will be a disservice to us and our people. We shall not be able to enjoy the fruits of those investments, and our land will probably have been snatched by the end of that period,” the farmers’ spokesperson said.

One of the farmers claimed the company had barred them from accessing their offices when they went to inquire about the changes in the lease agreement.

The farmers signed the initial agreement with Green Planet in 2023.

“I was shocked when people came to my farm and introduced themselves as being from Earth Tree, yet I had signed an agreement with Green Planet. To make matters worse, they want to be the ones managing the trees,” lamented Kipruto Maiyo, a farmer.

Controversial carbon credit contracts

Under the agreement on carbon credit, there was a provision for the farmers to withdraw from the deal within the first five years by giving seven months’ written notice. However, there is no such provision in the contentious agreement that only provides that the company will harvest trees until the agreement lapses after 44 years.

In addition, the farmers have contested a provision that that it is the company that would provide the tree seedlings, contrary to an earlier agreement where it they were from them.

“From today, we shall make sure that they leave. We will not engage with them at any point since they have shortchanged us,” noted another farmer, Mannasseh Koech.

The company officials could not be reached as the gates remained closed to both the farmers and the media.

Syntropic Agroforestry changing farming in Laikipia

Meanwhile, TUKO.co.ke reported about how Thiong’o Gachie, a farmer from Laikipia, had transformed his farm into a self-sustaining system.

Gachie has embraced syntropic agroforestry as a way of reducing the cost of inputs and minimising water usage.

The farmer noted that the system is beneficial to smallholder farmers.

Source: TUKO.co.ke