Cookswell Jikos and the Woodlands 2000 Trust
Promoting holistic drylands natural resource management.
The “Scorched Earth” Charcoal Kiln Rehabilitation Concept Note.
Introduction: The ‘scorched earth’ term is coined from a military tactic used by armies throughout history. It simply states that an army will level and burn (scorching the earth) every thing so as to deprive anyone else the use of that land once they have left. The key externalities associated from traditional charcoal production methods in dry land areas in Kenya are very analogous.
Once the ‘army’ of charcoal makers has moved on they leave behind patches of earth where the kiln was located that have been subjected to high temperatures for long periods of time. This causes a number of serious land degradation issues; at least one foot below the surface of the land is essentially sterilized, bacteria, nematodes, earthworms, seeds, humus, rhizomes, all die or are destroyed from the partial combustion of large amounts of wood in a closed kiln. In areas where the silica content is high this treatment produces what are essentially uncompacted red-fired clay blocks. This type of treatment takes over 15-20 years for the soil to even begin to start recovering. Where the unused branches and thorns are piled up, they cover the grass for grazing for up to 4 years until they sufficiently rot down enough for livestock to access underlying pasture.
This leaves the area where the kiln was situated directly exposed to the elements and particularly prone to erosion. Typical sites that data has been collected from, average 482m, which is roughly 1/100th of an acre, which may not seem like much, but in areas under heavy charcoal production, there may be 10 or more kilns per acre which means that the land owner loses 1/10th of an acre every cycle. In areas where intensive charcoal production is taking place, this amounts to hundreds of acres so finely spaced out that they escape immediate notice of the landowner. In the current area of operations (Narok South, Maji Moto area), the main land use model is based on semi-nomadic pastoralism. This means that the number of animals per acre dictates the land’s carrying capacity of livestock. In the focus area it is around 3 acres of land per head of sheep and 6 acres of land per head of cattle. As the loss of pasture increases, the competition for resources (grazing land) amplifies.
Objective: To exemplify appropriate methods of rehabilitating ‘scorched earth’ areas into productive, biodynamic multi use zones.
Strategy: Micro-woodlot establishment will be the key tool in rectifying current and preventing future destruction. Woodlots will be securely fenced with the waste branches from previous charcoal production; the areas will undergo double digging to mix in adequate amounts of manure and humus, then it will be high density directly seeded with endemic and carefully selected tree species that pelleted into seedballs and will be irrigated by rainfall.
|Biochar seedball germination.|
Budget: The initial demonstration micro-woodlots will be externally financed. The charcoal makers themselves will finance all others under stipulation from the landowner as part of the charcoal making process and cost. Labour is the only key input. That is because all other inputs are locally available. Seeds can be collected from the wild or seedballs purchased; manure is free from the landowner’s livestock enclosure, the fencing material is a waste byproduct that is already on location. The labour cost for one kiln of typical dimensions to the area is around 1000ksh.
Conclusion: Soil and arable land loss is one of the greatest threats to riparian systems in dryland areas. The use of low efficiency charcoal kilns has a huge unintended impact on the ecology of areas under production. Coupled with minimal to nil reforestation programs this problem will continue to degrade the land and therefore adversely affect area residents and also all people living downriver.