Empowering Rural Communities and Households with Renewable Energy
KTDA Foundation joined class 7 students of Kigumo Primary School and Iraini Tea Factory staff in a tree planting and mentorship session on 26th November 2019. Iraini Tea factory board members were represented by their Chairman Mr Githinji Wanjohi and factory staff represented by the FUM Mathias Ithiga, FSC Esther Nyambura, Production Manager Mr Koech, FSA Kelvin Wachira and assistant factory accountant John Muoni. The staff briefly shared their life experiences and how they made it to the positions they hold today at the organisation. The factory had also invited Mr Justus Were from the Kenya Forest Service Nyeri South, to educate the students on the importance of environmental sustainability through tree growing.
The tree planting activity at the school took 2 hours, the students with help from parents/growers from the nearby buying centre (IR 32) and Iraini staff members planted 780 tree seedlings, the seedlings species included 500 Bluegum tree seedlings,150 Indigenous tree seedlings, 100 Gravellia and 30 Hass Avocado seedlings.
The tree planting activity was funded by the IKEA Foundation as part of the ECHRE project which aims to empower rural communities and households with renewable energy sources, one of the strategies to achieve this is through tree growing with schools. The project aims to plant 1 million trees across 12 KTDA factory catchments by November 2020.
