Traditionally, dry lands have been viewed as having little potential for economic activities. However, in partnership with development agents, researchers and donors, communities in dry lands could build on the comparative advantage that such lands offer for cultivating medical plants to generate income, support human and livestock health care systems, and enhance the environment, says James Kung'u, the head, department of environmental sciences at Kenyatta University in the "Miti" magazine.
Medical plants play a very important role in the lives of rural people particularly in remote parts of developing countries where there are few health facilities. From commiphora baluensis (itula, in Kikamba), Azadirachta indica (neem), aloe secundiflora, to acacia mellifera (muthiia), are among the more than 41 popular medicinal plants that can grow in dry lands of Kenya – which 85 percent is classified as either Arid or Semi arid - to increase forest cover which stands at 1.7 percent, now.
According to recent estimates by the World Health Organization, more than 3.5 billion people depends on plants for there health care. In Africa, more than 80 percent of the population depend on plants as a primary component of their heath care, says the "Agroforestry and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals" magazine. In Kenya, it is estimated that over 90 percent of the population use medicinal plants at one time or another, according to Traditional Medical Practitioners in Kenya: Putting Theory into Practice journal.
Traditionally the supply of indigenous medicines depended on native plants, which were harvested from wild sources. In dry areas, wild sources are declining due to land degradation, current harvesting practices, overgrazing and lack of enforceable management regulations.
This situation is even more pronounced in dry land zones where plant diversity is naturally low, says Kung'u. “Dry land communities have the opportunity to use selected indigenous plant spices to halt land degradation, and the same time provide a sustainable source of affordable health care, food and income.”
By embracing emerging technologies, such as Groasis Waterboxx that was launched at Nazarine University, recently; which was first piloted in morocco's sahara desert four years ago. The Waterboxx technology has shown an 88 percent survival rate of plants in dry land conditions in comparison to 10 percent of plants grown without the waterboxx device, despite being watered on daily basis.
This ambitious idea has hit the Kenyan soils with with its inaugural trials targeting dry and arid landscapes of Ngong hills, Naivasa, Marsabit and parts of Eastern Counties.
“The planting of medicinal plants should be encouraged for income generation for it compares favorably with other important crops like coffee and tea in high potential areas,” the don explains, adding that “rural communities in dry areas can have an opportunity to use their indigenous knowledge to be come serious players in the global herbal medicine market.”
The don further articulate that land rehabilitation programmes based on medicinal plant can make major contributions to sustainable natural resource management and offer remunerative employment opportunities for women and men, as well as link the rural people to urban markets. They can contribute to preventive measures in moderately degraded lands, as well as help in reclaiming servery gradated dry lands.
Melding the ambitious growing of medicinal plants in dry areas with Groasis Waterboxx technology, the traditional watering of seeds can be reduced to almost zero in the course of germination. This technology allows the growth of other crops, even in rocky areas which have always left many scientists baffled trying to unravel a dose-through research for degraded lands across the world, particularly the deserts, in the hope of turning around the dust-bath ecological zones, said Prof Hoff during the launch of concept.
In regard to these technology Professor Isaac Kigatira, a scientist in charge of drylands and natural resource studies at African Nazarene University, said: “As of now, the results of initial demonstrations hold the breakthrough to turning our vast desert lands into an economic hub. If this technology is adopted on a wider scale, the country would possibly reclaim the lost forest cover as well as increasing the current fast diminishing and degraded lands in the near future.”
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