For years, Maragoli Hill Forest in Vihiga County was viewed primarily as an environmental asset; a critical water catchment, biodiversity habitat and natural landmark for surrounding communities.
Today, it is increasingly becoming something more: an economic asset.
The county’s effort to restore degraded sections of the forest is improving water security, supporting agricultural production, creating income opportunities and demonstrating how landscape restoration can evolve into a driver of local economic activity.
As Kenya pursues its ambitious goal of growing 15 billion trees by 2032, Vihiga is offering an early glimpse into what a restoration economy could look like in practice.
The economic stakes are significant. Kenya’s National Landscape and Ecosystem Restoration Strategy estimates that land degradation affects approximately 38.8 million hectares and results in socio-economic and ecological losses of about US$1.3 billion annually. The strategy identifies restoration as a pathway not only for environmental recovery but also for livelihood creation, improved productivity and employment generation across multiple sectors of the economy.
Maragoli Hill’s transformation has not happened overnight.
Years of deforestation and unsustainable land-use practices had left sections of the forest severely degraded, contributing to soil erosion, declining water availability and biodiversity loss. Earlier rehabilitation efforts achieved limited success, with many planted trees failing to survive.
In 2019, Vihiga County adopted a different approach. Contractors were required not only to plant trees but also to nurture them to maturity. Payments were tied to verified survival rates, creating stronger incentives for long-term restoration outcomes rather than short-term planting targets.
According to Winston Atamba, Director in Charge of Climate Action in Vihiga County, the county has since restored approximately 300 acres of degraded forestland and planted more than 500,000 trees.
The initiative has attracted support from a range of partners, including Equity Bank, Kenya Airways, the Kenya Forest Service, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Defence and the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission.
While the environmental gains are visible, county officials say some of the most important benefits are increasingly economic.
One of the clearest examples is water.
Streams that had previously dried up are now flowing more consistently, reducing pressure on households and supporting agricultural production. According to county officials, climate resilience investments have improved water access for approximately 15,000 households across Vihiga County, with around 3,000 households benefiting directly from improvements linked to the Maragoli Hills catchment.
Improved water availability helps strengthen agricultural production while reducing vulnerability to drought and water scarcity.
The restoration effort is also helping address soil erosion, one of the major drivers of declining farm productivity.
Atamba says improved vegetation cover, increased soil moisture retention and enhanced water availability are supporting the production of maize, fodder crops and indigenous vegetables.
The connection between restoration and agricultural productivity is particularly important in Kenya, where agriculture contributes 33 percent of GDP directly and a further 27 percent indirectly through agro-based industries and services, while employing more than 40 percent of the population and approximately 70 percent of rural residents.
For counties whose economies depend heavily on agriculture, restoration is increasingly being viewed as an investment in productive land rather than simply an environmental intervention.
Yet some of the most visible economic opportunities emerging from Maragoli Hill extend beyond farming.
The restored forest has become an increasingly popular destination for hiking, birdwatching and nature walks. Visitors pay approximately KSh1,000 for guided tours, creating income opportunities for local youth working as guides and support staff.
The site currently attracts at least 50 visitors each month, with some months exceeding 100 visitors, creating a modest but growing eco-tourism economy around the restored landscape.
A beekeeping initiative established within sections of the forest has created another income stream.
The county has installed approximately 150 beehives, each producing around 10 kilograms of honey per harvest, with harvesting conducted twice annually. At current market prices of approximately KSh1,000 per kilogram, the initiative has the potential to generate roughly KSh3 million annually in honey sales.
According to county officials, approximately 350 people participate in the honey value chain, including hive manufacturers, beekeepers, harvesters, processors, packagers and traders.
Together, these activities demonstrate how restoration can generate multiple revenue streams from a single landscape while improving environmental outcomes.
The lessons emerging from Vihiga are increasingly relevant at a national level.
Kenya’s 15 Billion Tree Growing Programme seeks to restore 10.6 million hectares of degraded landscapes while increasing national tree cover and strengthening climate resilience.
A significant share of that effort is expected to happen on farms. Government targets call for approximately 3 million hectares of agroforestry systems to be established on farmlands by 2032, embedding restoration directly into agricultural production systems rather than relying solely on public forests.
That means millions of farming households could become participants in the restoration economy through seedling purchases, tree management, fruit production, fodder systems, timber, honey and other tree-based enterprises.
According to Susan Boit, National Coordinator of the 15 Billion Trees Initiative, the programme should be viewed through a broader economic lens.
“The programme is a nature economy rather than solely a tree-planting exercise,” she says.
“Restoration activities across forestry, agroforestry, watershed protection, timber, bamboo, fruit trees and ecosystem services have the potential to create a multi-billion-shilling sector.”
The scale of the opportunity is already becoming visible in the seedling market.
According to the Secretariat, Kenya will require approximately 1.5 billion seedlings annually to meet its 2032 target, with about one billion seedlings expected from public nurseries and another 500 million supplied by private nurseries, community groups, county governments and development partners.
Using prevailing prices of between KSh10 and KSh30 per seedling in Kenya Forest Service nurseries, particularly when supplying other government institutions, the Secretariat estimates the national seedling market could be worth between KSh15 billion and KSh45 billion annually.
In the commercial market, pricing varies considerably across species and regions. While many indigenous seedlings retail at between KSh50 and KSh100, premium segments such as grafted fruit trees, ornamental species and other high-value planting materials can fetch between KSh150 and KSh350 or more. In some ASAL counties, higher logistics costs and constrained supply can push prices even further, illustrating the emergence of a diverse and increasingly sophisticated seedling market.
According to the Secretariat, demand for seedlings is expected to remain strong throughout the implementation period, creating opportunities for private nurseries, youth enterprises, women’s groups, community-based organisations and farmer service centres.
Boit identifies commercial seedling production, agroforestry enterprises, bamboo value chains, beekeeping, restoration services, GIS monitoring and nature-based tourism among the most promising opportunities emerging from the restoration economy.
Private-sector participation is also expanding through restoration partnerships involving financial institutions, manufacturers, telecommunications companies, agricultural firms and energy companies.
For investors and entrepreneurs, the opportunity extends well beyond tree planting.
The restoration economy is creating demand across seedling production, environmental monitoring, restoration services, agroforestry, honey processing, eco-tourism and sustainable forestry products. Several counties, including Kiambu, Kakamega, Meru, Nakuru, Nyandarua and Garissa, are already demonstrating growing enterprise activity linked to restoration.
While many of the economic returns are still emerging, restoration is increasingly being viewed as a productive asset capable of generating both environmental and economic value.
The significance of Maragoli Hill, therefore, extends beyond the recovery of a single forest.
It offers evidence that restoration can generate measurable economic value through improved agricultural productivity, stronger water security, enterprise development, tourism and new livelihood opportunities.
For Vihiga County, restoration is increasingly becoming both an environmental and economic strategy.
For Kenya, the bigger question is whether the lessons emerging from projects such as Maragoli Hill can be replicated at scale.
That question matters because forests already provide direct employment to more than four million Kenyans and serve as a livelihood base for more than 80 percent of households. Expanding restoration could significantly deepen those economic benefits.
As the country pursues its 15-billion-tree target, restoration is evolving from a conservation activity into a platform for rural enterprise, local investment and economic growth. The challenge now is ensuring that policy support, financing and private-sector participation keep pace with the scale of the opportunity.
