Forest management decentralization in Kenya: Effects on household farm forestry decisions in Kakamega

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of forest decentralization through the Kenya Forest Act of 2005, on farm forestry investment decisions. The study uses household-level data collected from Kakamega forest communities in March, 2010, and controls for selection bias arising from incidental truncation by means of Heckman two-step approach. Our results reveal that participatory forest management, among other factors, significantly reduces the level of farm forestry investment among the poor rural households. This indicates that, although co-management is useful in protecting the existing government forests, a cocktail of other measures must accompany it for increased forest cover to be realized. These measures could include: increased farmer education, introduction of high-value fast-maturing farm trees and farm forestry incentive schemes.