Forestry Permanent Secretary Kimotho Kimani has announced that the government will from July procedurally harvest mature trees.
Speaking in Eldoret during the launch of a greening programme in TVET institutions, the PS said the move will allow licensed saw millers to resume harvesting mature trees from both public and private forests.
"As the government, we will in July lift a moratorium on logging in public forests across the country to allow for harvesting and disposal of mature trees,” he said.
He, however, said the government would enforce a policy on how the harvesting will be done.
"Before July the government will put in place the policy on how the harvesting of mature and overgrown tree plantations will be done in public and community forests," he said.
“We will not do it carelessly as was done previously because we want to ensure we increase our forest cover to required levels while allowing the harvesting in a regulated manner.”
He said the government imposed a moratorium on logging in public and community forests six years ago with the aim of protecting the existing forests as the country eyed to achieve 10 per cent forest cover.
Since the ban on logging in all public and community forests came into effect, wood has been scarce, thus causing a ripple effect on the construction industry in the country.
The PS said 2.9 million tree seeds will be distributed to 100 Tvet institutions in North Rift, Nyanza and the Western region for plantation to help the government meet the target of 5 billion this season.