Former Senior JICA VP Mr.Toshiyuki Nakamura's Visit to KEFRI

JICA’s former Senior Vice President Mr. Toshiyuki Nakamura visited the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) on 13^th July 2023 accompanied by JICA Kenya Office’s Chief Representative Mr. Hajime Iwama, Climate Change Sector Project Formulation Advisor, Mr. Tadashi Shimizu, SFS-CORECC project’s Chief Advisor Mr. Katsuro Saito and Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer (JOCV) Mr. Genji Shin. The delegation was warmly received by KEFRI’s Director Dr. Cheboiwo and his Deputies led by Senior Deputy Director Dr. Jane Njuguna.

The Director briefed Mr. Nakamura on the history of KEFRI including the long period of collaboration with JICA since the establishment of KEFRI 38 years ago. He highly appreciated the JICA-KEFRI collaboration which has flourished and played a major role in the development of KEFRI into a centre of excellence in the region, and thanked JICA for supporting KEFRI’S successful bid to host IUFRO 2029. Dr. Cheboiwo added that KEFRI has been fully engaged in supporting the Government’s tree growing campaign schemes and expanded tree seed centers from 1 to 11 nationwide.

In his response, Mr. Nakamura appreciated the long-term relationship between KEFRI and JICA, including the continuing research program, and regional cooperation such as AI-CD. Mr. Iwama also wished for continued successful collaboration in forestry to address climate change challenges in Kenya citing that this year marks the anniversary of 60 years of Kenya and Japan cooperation.

The delegation was taken on a tour of KEFRI’s facilities including the laboratories which are fitted out with high specification equipment mostly donated by Japan, and fully utilized and properly maintained by KEFRI. During the tour, Mr. Nakamura, and Mr. Iwama each planted a tree with KEFRI’s director to commemorate the visit and the 38 years of collaboration, which fits in well with JICA’s celebration this year of 60 years cooperation to Kenya.

JICA’s latest collaboration with KEFRI is the ongoing Project for Strengthening Forestry Sector Development and Community Resilience to Climate Change through Sustainable Forest Management and Landscape Restoration (SFS-CORECC). In this project, KEFRI is implementing the Tree Breeding and the Regional Cooperation components whose focus is respectively, breeding drought tolerant tree species, and developing the capacity of other countries in the region.