Environmentalists and conservationists are now calling for adopting integrated approaches in managing invasive plant species that have spread in most Arid and Semi-Arid Areas of the country.
Speaking at a two-day workshop held at a Nanyuki hotel, the stakeholders opined that there was a need to come up with different pathways in finding solutions geared towards the management and control of Opuntia, an invasive cactus-like weed that is rapidly spreading on grasslands in the counties of Narok, Baringo, Nakuru, Taita Taveta and Laikipia.
Laikipia Wildlife Forum (LWF) Chairman and former Agriculture Permanent Secretary in the Kibaki era, Dr.
Romano Kiome, said that there was a need to involve all stakeholders in finding a solution to tackling the spread of the weed and come up with a policy brief that would guide the county and the national government on ways to manage and control the spread of the invasive plant. "We need to be open-minded and think of multi-pathways in tackling this invasive species of this weed and ask ourselves if we can make use of it, manage its manifestation, and control its spread, said Dr.
