In a 1.7 hectare plot in Nyeri County, Kenya, a tree museum was born. A one of a kind forest project, Miti Alliance in Kenya is planting a real life collection of over 160 indigenous tree species that need to be protected. A small yet mighty Open Forest Protocol project, Miti not only provides a catalog of the tree species but serves as a learning model for a syntropic agroforestry system where the local community will learn methods of regenerative agriculture.
“Open Forest Protocol ecosystem has enabled Miti Alliance to showcase its projects at a small scale which has never been possible with other partners. Often, we found it a challenge that the request was to be doing large-scale projects that required significant amounts of finance, land and capacity. With OFP we have been able to do our tree museum and we have now incorporated small scale farmers in our community with a target to grow to 1000 acres in the next 5 years.”
The key stakeholders include 100 local community farmers that have each planted 10 grafted avocado and 4 timber trees, 4 fodder trees, and 4 indigenous trees for their woodlots. As part of the Miti Alliance, this Kieni Farmers project is crafted specifically to enable them to improve economic activities by making it a livelihood project.
The Miti goal is to scale to 1000 farmers in the larger community by 2028. No project is without its challenges, especially in the current face of the climate crisis that has direct impacts on smallholder farmers like the ones Miti supports. A lack of sufficient water collection systems such as water tanks or dams, and access to finance or funding to reach the other 900 farmers identified as in need in neighboring communities remain the largest barriers. Funding through Open Forest Protocol in the future will also help to support extension officers that provide vital services to farmers.
“Our hope is that these farmers will be able to generate income through the sale of avocados and also increase their livelihood activities”
Through OFP they will also be able to earn carbon credits that allows them to further see the importance of protecting their trees and hopefully increase to more acreage over time. Thank you to Michael, founder and leader of Miti Alliance, for sharing his story with us.
See Miti Alliance on the blockchain based OFP Atlas: https://atlas.openforestprotocol.org/1674465113072
Check out their website: https://miti.co.ke
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