Acacia meansii (black wattle) is native to Australia. It is widely grown in many countries for the high tannin content in its bark which is processed into tanning extracts, which are then used for leather treatment in the multibillion-dollar fashion industry.
In Kenya, the tree is deeply linked to the country’s history, politics, economy and forest conservation. At the peak of its production, Kenya was earning Sh5.8 billion annually from tannin exports. However, it was for other commercial and environmental benefits that this tree was first promoted here.
Trees on Farms in Kenya, a Food and Agricultural Organisation study by Dr Peter A. Dewees, says it was introduced in Kenya in 1885 by a missionary who came with seeds from Australia.
But it was not until 1898, when John Boyes, a mercenary, merchant and adventurer planted wattle trees in Murang’a that its popularity started to grow.
It was mainly planted in regions of white settlements hence its popularity in central Kenya and the Rift Valley.
The colonial administration’s objective then was to reduce pressure on indigenous forests for fuelwood and building timber.
The demand for these products, Dr Dewees, a natural economist who teaches at Oxford University, says had greatly increased since the demarcation of the boundaries of the Forest Reserves of the Aberdares between 1900 and 1910.
Wattle was especially suited for this purpose because it grows fast and matures in about six years. It has a relatively short lifespan of 10 years. Like its cousin Acacia xanthophloea, its charcoal is top grade.
It was not until 1919 that a factory was built in Njoro to process wattle bark from mostly European-owned plantations.
Additional extracting factories were opened in Limuru and Thika in the early 1930s. African smallholders, mostly in central Kenya, were then allowed to plant the tree.
It produces a broad range of household commodities including fuelwood, charcoal, fencing poles, construction poles, plywood and particleboard and can be easily incorporated into farming systems as it helps in nitrogen-fixing.
For Africans in colonial Kenya who were not allowed to grow cash crops like coffee and tea, this tree provided much needed income.
This was to cause a problem in central Kenya as the income enabled individuals to embark on land litigation often at the expense of the rulers, frustrating their efforts to strengthen tribal authority, the FAO research says.
It is for this reason that from around 1940, the Department of Agriculture, started a campaign against the planting of wattle in central province.
Its campaign was greatly aided by the Mau emergency. Large areas of wattle were cleared for building timber and for village fortifications. Trade in wattle bark became a monopoly of loyalists who were the only persons able to get trading licences.
As the smallholders were pushed out, production shifted to plantation estates operated by tannin extract companies like East African Tanning Extract Company Ltd (Eatec), which was based in Eldoret. Eatec at one time had nearly 20,000ha of wattle tree plantations in Uasin Gishu.
The company also bought bark from individual farmers in the North Rift. Many were left with plantations of trees whose bark lost market when Lonrho, the British conglomerate and Eatec’s parent company, divested from agriculture in the late 1990s.
But although the bark market collapsed, wattle did not lose its shine because its many other benefits remained.
Today, Kenya Tanning Extractors Company (KTEC) in Thika is the only company in the region purchasing bark from farmers.
The bark market fell due to reduced demand for natural tannin prices caused by competition from synthetic products.
But the popularity of the wattle has not waned because of its many other commercial uses.
There is hope that with government’s efforts to promote manufacturing in the Vision 2030 plan, the leather industry will thrive and hence the bark market will rebound.
There is also a huge export market in countries like China and India where the leather fashion industry is booming.
According to the Guide to Tree Planting in Kenya by Kefri scientists, wattle grows in altitudes of 1,600 to 2,000 metres above sea level. Annual rainfalls of more than 1,400mm are ideal. At Kefri, seeds cost Sh1,000 a kilogramme.
The seeds have extremely hard husks and thus need soaking in hot water for at least 24 hours before they are sowed, according to The Seed Handbook of Kenya, another Kefri publication. Burning them with fire or sulphuric acid also works.
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