Kenya - WETPA

The Western Tree Planters Association (WETPA) is a member-based organization in the republic of Kenya. The association has its headquarters located at Webuye town in Bungoma County and operates in four counties in the western region of Kenya (Bungoma, Busia, Trans Nzoia, and Kakamega). With this project, WETPA members will be able to transition to an agroforestry system or enhance their existing agroforestry systems.

• Project ADD summary PDF (version 2023)

With 1771 participants in the first year of the project, this Plan Vivo-certified project is run by WETPA with support from the Farm Forestry Smallholder Producers Association of Kenya (FFSPAK), Vi Agroforestry, and Agriterra. It aims to help smallholder farmers living well below the poverty line to transition away from monocultures of maize and sugarcane and instead sustainably diversify and increase their income by planting a diverse range of tree species that sequester carbon, conserve soil and produce fruits, medicine, and fodder.

As part of the agroforestry design for this project, WETPA advises farmers not to plant eucalyptus trees due to the detrimental impacts this invasive species is having on biodiversity in the project area but instead plant indigenous species that offer optimum environmental enhancement. Therefore, this project not only improves the ecosystem but also provides improved livelihoods and resilience to climate change for smallholder farmer families in western Kenya.

The carbon credits farmers receive for the trees planted as part of the project are ex-post based. They will only be derived from one year before CRU issuance.

Full project documentation available upon request.