Jiko School

The Kitengela Holistic Household Energy Training Center

Introductory Industrial Attachment Courses focused on up-scaling the efficiency and sustainability of the        seed-to-ash cycle of biomass based household energy resources.

Course Description	Duration	Tuition Fee	Full Room and Board	Field Trip Allowance	Total
Stove Production Training	-	-	-	-
Improved Charcoal Cookstove (KCJ)                (metal cladding),       Mass-Production Fabrication 101	6 months	37,000Kshs	93,000Kshs	11,000Kshs	141,000Kshs (1,800USD)
Improved High Efficiency  Charcoal Oven                Production and  Fabrication 101	4 months	50,000Kshs	60,000Kshs	4,000kshs	94,000Kshs (1200USD)
Stick Welding Course for Charcoal Oven Assembly 101	3 months	34,000Kshs	46,500Kshs	6,500Ksh	87,000Kshs (1,100USD)
Stove Assembly,       Final Packaging and Marketing 101	1 month	14,000Kshs	15,000Kshs	-	29,000Kshs (360USD)
Industrial Clay Liner Manufacturing and Firing 101	4 months	42,000Kshs	60,000Kshs	5,000Kshs	107,000Kshs (1,400USD)
Course Description	Duration	Tuition Fee	Full Room and Board	Field Trip Allowance	Total
Holistic Agro-energy (tree planting) Production Training.	-	-	-	-
Tree propagation and seedling maintenance	6 months	35,000Kshs	93,000Kshs	11,000Kshs	139,000Kshs (1740USD)
Woodlot planning, planting regimes and progressive harvesting planning  (classroom session)	2 weeks	10,000Kshs	7,500Kshs	6,000Kshs	23,000Kshs (295USD)
Tree planting, micro-rotational drip irrigation management and woodlot maintenance field training course	2 months	17,000Kshs	30,000Kshs	19,000Kshs	66,000Kshs (825USD)
Sustainable Charcoal and Firestick Production Training	-	-	-	-
Pollarding and Harvesting Methodologies	1 month	15,000Kshs	15,000Kshs	13,000Kshs	43,000Kshs (540USD)
Collieries (Carbonization of Biomass) Efficient Charcoal Production Training	1 month	18,000Kshs	15,000Kshs	10,000Kshs	43,000Kshs (540USD)
Processing, Grading, Blending and Packaging Training	3 weeks	7,000Kshs	10,500Kshs	3,000Kshs	20,500Kshs (255USD)
Course Description	Duration	Tuition Fee	Full Room and Board	Field Trip Allowance	Total
Commercial/Industrial Utilization and Conservation of Biomass	-	-	-	-	-
Commercial Charcoal Oven Operation and Standard Baking Course
Small Scale Iron Forgery	1 month	30,000Kshs	15,000Kshs	2,000Kshs	47,000Kshs (590USD)
Traditional Beer Brewing	2 months	40,000Kshs	30,000Kshs	2,000Kshs	72,000Kshs (900USD)

The begining

More homegrown

Homegrown Energy

Continuous Batch Charcoal Retort in the Kitengela Arboretum

This is a top loading continuous batch charcoal retort. It makes light charcoal from 1/2" to 4" diameter sustainably harvested tree branches.
Prices start at 550USD*
*Training, use and upkeep lessons included

Kenya Seeds Of Change

Welcome to the Kenya Seeds of Change resource site. Plant more trees!


Kenya Seeds of Change
Overview

The degraded state of Kenya’s national and private forests (and therefore, the overall environmental health of the country) borders on the point of no return. Unless large scale forestry efforts are undertaken by both the public and private sector in the next few years, the damage that has been done to the countries forests will become irreversible. Due to the slow pace of natural regeneration of forests (as compared to their exploitation), a boost is sorely needed to meet current and future demands by Kenya’s ever growing population for sustainably grown wood by-products, especially the charcoal and firewood that is used daily by 80% of the country’s population.

The Kenya Seeds Of Change initiative aims to contribute towards national afforestaion by land owners through the countrywide sales of inexpensive tree seeds and the promotion of direct seeding woodlot establishment. Seeds are by far the best method of promoting wide scale tree planting in Kenya. These are some of the benefits from the direct planting of tree seeds compared to planting seedlings;

•Seeds are Cheaper! (At roughly 0.25cents per tree compared to 20+ shillings per seedling)
•The tree’s hardiness and survivability increases.
•Thousands of seeds can be transported and stored much more easily then thousands of seedlings can until the planting time comes.
•Seeds can be massively disseminated through existing retail outlets with minimal price increments from producer to consumer. Tree seedlings face problems of availability at the right time, dissemination logistics etc.
•Partially domesticated indigenous tree species are best grown from seed. They are already adapted to Kenya’s climate, soils and pests and the trees are currently widely used and understood by the population.
•Seeds simplify the enhancement of the genetic diversity of planted woodlots.
•The above/below ground biomass ratio is more conducive to healthy growth when a tree is planted from seed.
•Overall financial losses and risks from drought, animals etc. are significantly less under direct seeding.

Limited Access to Good Seed

•From large commercial plantations to small scale rural and urban farmers, the access to purchase certified tree seeds according to their growing zones and uses is extremely limited to anyone who would like to plant trees.
•Currently the only place to buy graded, certified tree seeds is at KEFRI (The Kenya Forestry Research Institute), located in Muguga, on the outskirts of Nairobi.
•In contrast all the Nakumatt and Uchumi supermarket chains and all of the Agro-Vets in small or large towns and cities stock a variety of seeds ie. sukuma wiki (Kale) and maize etc.
•Which of course raises the question; why don’t they all stock small packages of tree seeds that are suited to their market base?
This is what the Kenya Seeds of Change initiative has been started to get done.


Core Company Focus

The initial focus will be on energy producing trees (solid bio-fuels in the form of Charcoal and Firewood). The trees from the Acacia family are currently the most widely used in Kenya for this purpose (and are in turn some the most over exploited). They comprise primarily these three species;
•Acacia xanthopolea
•Acacia polyacantha
•Acacia nilotica
These trees can not only provide a core energy crop but will also provide the wide positive ecological trickledown effect that tree planting is associated with, i.e. erosion control, bio-diversity, water retention and catchment, bee forage, shade, windbreaks, carbon capture and wildlife/bird habitat etc.
Encouraging the extensive planting of such a useful species of tree is essential in order to lay the foundations for sustainable charcoal/firewood farming, on a national scale. Widespread affordable acacia seeds will be the beginnings of recovery for Kenya’s forests and the transfiguration of the woodfuel supply/demand chain into long term economic and environmental viability.

Successful domestication and widescale cultivation of these acacia species will eventually constitute the final line of defense for the remaining indigenous forest ecosystems in Kenya.

This project will benefit all sectors;

•It will enable large numbers of Kenyans countrywide to start re-planting, at a negligible cost, trees that will recover damaged land and provide future income security.
•It will stimulate KEFRI to increase seed production which will correlate with increased rural employment and further research into domesticating high yielding multi-use Acacia trees.
•It provides an excellent public relations opening for corporate social investment from major national retail chains; being an integral part of the greening Kenya whilst at the same time doing business as usual.
•It would provide access to seed for developmental organizations, both public and private.
The typical acacia tree growing in arid areas in Kenya, (Narok and Kajiado specifically) can, after about 8 years of growing in the wild, produce 1 pickup load of firewood (2500/=) and after about 12 years produce 3-4 bags of charcoal (at 300/= each). Each packet of seed contains an average of 160 seeds and will initially be priced from 100/= each. The investment gained is monetarily huge but pales in comparison to the ecological gains made from tree planting. This is a cheap easy way to recover and enhance what is a vital part of the ecosystem. If all the trees that are being cut down for fuel right now started from seed but were not planted by the hand of man, then just imagine how many trees will grow when carefully nurtured and protected from the goats and the wildlife, the fires and the droughts which compromise the fast and healthy growth of wild trees.