State now admits bottlenecks in bid to plant 15bn trees—or even count them
Ms Beatrice Inyangala, the Principal Secretary for Higher Education, waters tree seedling she planted at Shirugu Primary School in Malava, Kakamega County on October 10, 2025.
The government now plans to use chiefs, schools, and the National Youth Service (NYS) in its plan for 15 billion trees by 2032, even as questions over the bottlenecks affecting the accuracy of the data on just how many trees have been planted arose.
President William Ruto said that Kenya has planted 1.06 billion trees in the last two years.
But when broken down, questions of just how credible the figure is arise.
Students and parents of St Peter and Paul Nyaribo Primary School in Nyeri plant trees on October 10, 2025 to mark Mazingira Day.
To plant 1.06 billion trees in two years, Kenya has to have planted 1.452055 million trees every day. This means 60,500 trees per hour or 1,010 trees per minute – a massive number.
Broken down using Kenya's total population of at least 50 million, including infants, babies, and the elderly, every single Kenyan should plant at least one tree every month to get to the 1.06 billion trees in two years.
To hit 15 billion trees by 2032, Kenya needs to have planted – and continue doing so – about 4.11 million trees every day from 2022.
“The bottleneck that we have had in the past two years has been the non-availability of seedlings. To sort out the challenge, I have instructed the minister in charge to make sure that the Kenya Forest Service works with the National Youth Service in our 300 nurseries and 17 mega nurseries to produce two billion seedlings,” President Ruto said.
Mr Mohamed Daghar (centre), the Principal Secretary for Transport, leads State officials, port workers, and agency representatives in a tree planting exercise at MM Shah & MV Shah Academy in Mombasa County on October 10, 2025.
The Head of State noted that the government is adopting a multi-agency approach, bringing together the military, prisons service, the private sector, forest communities, the Ministry of Education, and Members of Parliament to further support the production of seedlings.
“Our target today is to plant one million trees,” he said.
Pupils of Kapsumbeiywet Primary School in Uasin Gishu County plant tree seedlings on October 10, 2025 during the Mazingira Day celebrations.
Dr Ruto said the tree planting is part of a wider agenda, including protecting water catchment areas to ensure enough water to support agricultural productivity and thus boost food security and environmental health.
“The more trees we plant, the more rain we are going to have. We will harvest the water and store it in our dams,” he said. “We are not just planting trees; we are looking after our food security.”
President Ruto explained that the tree planting programme is aimed at strengthening the country's food security.
“We are taking these steps because climate change is a reality,” he said. “We urge Kenyans to go back to their schools and help plant trees.”
Environment Cabinet Secretary Deborah Mulongo (centre) and pupils from Kabuyefwe Primary School in Kiminini, Trans Nzoia County, plant a tree seedling during this year's Mazingira Day celebrations on October 10, 2025.
Ms Deborah Barasa, the CS for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, said that the government is shifting its focus to fruit trees, especially in learning institutions, with 500 million fruits grown in the month of October alone.
“We urge corporates to use their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes to support tree growing,” she said.
The ministry admitted that it is faces a technological challenge in tracking the trees that have been planted, and is looking for a partner to help track the survival rate of each tree.
“It has not been possible to track the exact number of trees planted in private farms and the authenticity of growth reports by individual farmers,” said Ms Susan Boit, the national coordinator of the 15 Billion Tree Growing Programme.
Suba South Police Commander Caxton Ndunda plants a tree at Wiga Primary School in Gwassi South ward, Homa Bay County on October 10, 2025.
She said that the ministry is using the National Government Administration Officers (NGAO) to give reports on the precise number of trees planted in their jurisdictions.
“We have partnered with learning institutions, churches, government agencies, and non-governmental organisations to accelerate the tree growing programme and monitor survival rates,” said Ms Boit, adding that they have launched the JazaMiti digital app to monitor and verify the exact number of trees grown countrywide.
“We have engaged youths, women, and community groups in seedling propagation, aftercare, and monitoring of the grown trees.”
Ms Boit said the government plans to grow trees in forest land where there has been clear felling of trees, in urban open spaces, in dry lands, and through private and commercial forestry.
Pupils of Kapsumbeiywet Primary School in Gishu County plant tree seedlings on October 10, 2025 during the Mazingira Day celebrations.
She said that part of the strategy is to use a digital app called JazaMiti to track and monitor the survival rates of trees through GPS coordinates.
“We have partnered with the Kenya Forest Service and the Kenya Forest Research Institute, non-governmental organisations, and corporates to plant the trees and monitor survival rates,” said Ms Boit during the National Mazingira Day celebrations at Kabuyefwe Primary School in Trans Nzoia.
She urged corporates and development partners involved in the project to also share sustainability reports on the tree growing programme.
