The landscape in Kenya's western county of Vihiga is one that offers little hope. Folks here go through the motions of life and till their small plots of land for tea, bananas and sometimes maize. It is a routine practice they have lived through for years with no change in fortunes.

But one man in the region is changing the status quo by venturing into bamboo farming. Victor

Shiribwa's compound on a hilly village in Vihiga is a hive of activity. A workshop manufactures varnished furniture and treats bamboo fencing poles against pests, while a neat row of greenhouses grow all the bamboo seedlings on his plot, which he plants himself as well as supplies other interested farmers in the area.

Bamboo surprise

Shiribwa was not always a farmer in Vihiga. He and his wife Flora are former white-collar workers from the capital Nairobi, some 400 km to the east.

On a spur of the moment decision the couple quit their city jobs to start farming bamboo.

For villagers in Vihiga, nobody could understand Shiribwa's sudden interest in a giant woody grass which grows naturally in Kenya. He originally didn't intend to turn it into a business venture either. He planted bamboo just out of curiosity.

"When I settled here, many people thought my plot was useless because it was on a hill and had little fertility," he told ChinAfrica.

"We planted eucalyptus [for reforestation] but we realized the plot was getting drier. So we started

replacing them [the trees] with bamboo. The advantages were almost immediate. The bamboo grew faster, held soil together and did not sip too much [water] from the soil," he said.

The project gradually developed into a full-time lucrative business. But initially Shiribwa's bamboo venture was a gamble on two fronts. First, he was

going into the venture which hadn't been tried before in Vihiga and second he was putting his life savings into something he knew little about.

"I did some reading on the Internet. I saw how the plant had been useful in some countries, such as China and others in that region and I thought I could try it here." He found that some bamboo species can grow fast and generally mature between three and seven years. A bamboo tree can grow up to 30 meters tall and 30 cm in diameter. Each clump is harvested once or twice a year.

Bamboo benefits

From humble beginnings, Shiribwa's farm is now involved in projects for reforesting water catchment areas in Kenya's Cherangany region. In 2013, he got involved in a project to raise 200,000 seedlings which were used to plug the gaps in the forested areas of Cherangany. The price is attractive, sometimes averaging $3 per seedling, proving bamboo to be green gold to the farmer as well as a way of providing much needed employment to locals.

Shiribwa's county government took note of his initiative and sponsored him to visit China to learn more about the usage of bamboo. He visited the Yunnan Bamboo Nursery in Kunming of southwest China's Yunnan Province and found that among other uses, Chinese eat the bamboo shoots, but more importantly he learned that bamboo could be made into other products, rather than just selling it raw. The International Network of Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) figures show in China the bamboo industry employs nearly 8 million people, a number that is expected to hit 10 million by 2020.

"I have lived to learn that it makes lots of financial sense to add value to bamboo. It is a plant that is useful from the roots to the shoots. Every part is important," he told ChinAfrica.

Shiribwa said his initial investment was used in trying to improve on the uses of bamboo. "But we are not yet there. We still need support to expand."

He found that after drying and pest treatment bamboo makes good fencing material and the wood is also useful in making decorations. A set of door ornaments can cost up to $30 and a clothes rack $20. The workers at Shiribwa's farm workshop also craft brush holders, spoons, bread rolling boards and even picture frames, all made from bamboo. According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) the versatile plant has over 2,000 different uses.

The farm also manufactures well-crafted seats, tables, and other pieces of furniture, which could benefit the local hospitality industry.

Najib Balala, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Tourism, said there is a shortage of about 10,000 hotel beds in the country. "In our hotels and lodges, we mostly import items, including furniture. If we can create these items from local materials at a cheaper cost, this will boost the numbers of guests [we can accommodate]," he told ChinAfrica. He thinks government can encourage more investments if there is available material, like bamboo, to make the furniture needed.

Environment impact

Apart from manufacturing, bamboo can also play a role in reforestation. The Kenya Forest Service (KFS), the agency charged with protecting forested areas in the country, says Kenya has less than 10 percent of its land covered in forests. With bamboo, explains Patrick Kariuki, Extension Services Manager at KFS, Kenya could gain quicker forest cover.

"There are earnings which could be from preparing [bamboo] seedlings or just waiting for maturity and making items out of them [bamboo wood]," said Kariuki.

He said the rapid rate of growth means that farmers can get returns much faster than from eucalyptus, for example. "I can say, simply that the potential is big. It just hasn't been harnessed."

KFS, which has been running reforestation programs with Kenyan county governments, says bamboo has been useful in replenishing depleted forests. The agency is targeting to plant 20 million new trees by 2022 and has been signing financial agreements with county governments to prepare bamboo seedlings for them.

Environmentalists say bamboo growing should be encouraged to kill two birds with one stone: Deal with the lost forest cover and encourage farmers to produce more for large-scale workshops to thrive.

"Bamboo has a huge economic significance. This is because it is not only environmentally friendly, it is comparably stronger than wood, like eucalyptus for example," said Professor Catherine Wangari, who teaches agroforestry at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Nairobi.

In addition, because it has more calories but weighs less, it can serve as a good source of wood fuel without emitting as much pollution as petroleum products, in cooking.

The university recently opened a Sino-Kenyan Joint Research Center, a facility that could benefit local farmers with technology from China.

"For us, what we need is support to use the latest technology. The Chinese for example have done these things for years. They can help us reach their levels," said Shiribwa.

What would also help convert farmers from their usual crops to seeing bamboo as a business would be short turnaround times. To help with this, an initiative to produce seedlings that will halve the growth time of indigenous bamboo from 12 years to less than five years is underway by the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI). "We may need persistent campaigns because our farmers are used to short-term returns," said KEFRI's Peter Kung'u.

(Reporting from Kenya)