Saving Kakamega Forest to protect a community delicacy

The birds of Kakamega Forest chirp as they move from one tree branch to another. The mid-altitude tropical rainforest that lies in the Lake Victoria catchment area is home to a variety of popular indigenous trees.

The trees offer a natural habitat for a popular delicacy — wood ear mushroom — locally known as matere. This type of mushroom is ear-shaped, brown, and gelatinous and is known for its crunchy texture and ability to soak in flavours. Maurice Otunga, 60, is a mushroom collector. Dressed in a navy-blue nylon raincoat, black cap and gumboots as a protection gear, he takes us to the best section of the forest to pick the mushrooms. In his hands is a panga used for clearing the way and a small stick to push away dangerous animals like snakes 

‘This wood ear mushroom only grows on wet logs and older trees that are exposed to the sun,” he tells us.

On average, Maurice sells about 100 kilogrammes of wood ear mushroom every month, which costs about Sh400 to Sh600 for a kilogramme.

According to Patrick Muchiri, a senior technician and researcher at the Institute of Biotechnology Research at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, mushrooms contain a wide variety of phenol and flavonoid antioxidants that are useful in strengthening the immune system.

Locally, matere strains from the Albizia sapp tree (Mukangu), Ficus Exasparata (Museno) and Ficus Thorningu (Mukumu) are considered medicinal, and from the Elgon Teak, Funtumia Africana (Mutondo) Ficus Lutea (Mukavakava) and Forest Croton (Musutsu) are nutritious.

As a delicacy, matere can be prepared either fresh from the wild or dried. If dried, one should soak them in water for one hour before cooking.

 Locals advise that an ash filtrate can be used to soften them. They discourage frying, instead boiling them on low flame with salt mixed with the filtrate makes it a better delicacy. It is mostly eaten with ugali.

In the forest’s section with a lot of guava trees, a lot of mushrooms germinate after the onset of the first rain. We bump into yet another crew on the same mission in a different section of the forest. 

This solidifies the need to protect the forest for the community to benefit from it without any destruction, and thus contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals including Goal 15, which seeks to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

Already, the rehabilitation of Kakamega Forest, which entails the erection of the 117km perimeter electric fence and reforestation of some 220 hectares of degraded forest land, has started.

Most members of the Community Forest Association are advocating for controlled and monitored movements in and out of the forest to reduce illegal business of charcoal burning and cutting trees.

James Ligare, the chairperson of User Right Tree Nursery Group and Muliru Farmers Association, backs the fencing idea, saying that gathering anything in the forest interferes with other parts of nature like insect colonies, small plants and nests of small animals and birds.

Through sensitisation, the community learnt that there will be demarcated gates to allow them access and use the forest. Ligare says charcoal burners are the greatest enemies of logs that give him good mushrooms and so if the forest is fenced, they may shy off.

Some trees on which the mushrooms grow on are only a preserve of the forest and folklore has been used over the years to keep it that way. For example, the croton megalocarpus is seen as a bad omen, capable of bringing misfortune to a household, and thus cannot be domesticated.

“How possible is it that a bad omen tree is the one with the best ear wood mushroom?’’ Poses Solomon Watai, the secretary of Machetto Community Forest Association and in charge of the Research and Education user group.

He adds that the older generation knew the importance of such trees thus they created scary stories about them so that they can be preserved. He has vowed to lead women and youth to take tree planting as a venture to get cash and protect the future. 

Dr Isaac Misiko, a researcher from Bungoma County, says while domestication of indigenous trees is a good idea, it should be for the long term. Most indigenous tree species take more than 50 years to mature. 

“The ecosystem in the wild greatly differs from the home environment and thus making it difficult for some trees to grow well when domesticated. The wild has more hidden elements than we can see with our eyes and these elements are the ones that support symbiotic relationships that facilitate growth and sustainability of trees,’’ says Dr Misiko.

Rhoda Ombwara, forest station manager at Kenya Forest Service Malava station, believes that only through social forestry conservation of the forest will be appreciated by the community. 

“Communities around the forest within the range of five kilometres are all members of the Community Forest Association. Through training and linkages, they keep a protective eye on the forest which makes my work easier,” says Rhoda.