150 The woodcarving industry in Kenyadependants (Obunga unpublished). The growth of the industry is strongly
correlated to the arrival of rising numbers of European settlers and missionaries
(1920s and 1930s), British soldiers (1940s and 1950s), tourists (1960s to date)
and the expanding international market for Kenyan carvings^3.
Although carving is practised by all linguistic groups in Kenya, the Wakamba
people are most successful at commercial woodcarving in the country. Wakamba
carvers have established a well-organised structural industry of wood producers,
carvers and marketing agents, most of whom are bound by close ties of
extended families and clans. Much of the landscape traditionally occupied by
the Wakamba is dry savanna, with limited prospects for agricultural
development. As a result, woodcarving remains an important and popular
economic occupation option.
Woodcarving is considered an informal sector economic activity in Kenya.
The sector covers all small-scale activities, usually semi-organized, unregulated
and using simple labour intensive technologies. A large proportion of the
unemployed in Kenya join the expanding informal sector, which includes
woodcarving. For example in 1999, an estimated 1,705,400, persons in Nairobi,
Eastern Province and Coast Province (the prevalent woodcarving areas of Kenya)
were engaged in the informal sector with an annual increase of about 11% (GOK
2000). Although the industry is considered informal, woodcarvers have formed
co-operative societies in different parts of the country following encouragement
by the government shortly after independence in the early 1960s. Presently six
major woodcarving co-operatives exist. They came together in 1982 to form a
union to further their ideals and interests. However, the large size of the industry
and other internal and external factors are posing new administrative and
management challenges discussed elsewhere in this chapter.
Besides the emerging administrative challenges associated with the
enormous growth of the industry in Kenya, it is increasingly posing a major
conservation problem through depletion of highly favoured tree species from
their existing natural habitats. Nationally, over 15,000 m^3 of wood is used by
the industry per year, a rather small volume considering the large number of
carvers. However, the devastating impact of the industry on favoured tree
species can be understood when one considers that only a narrow range meet
the desirable carving qualities. These include hardwoods such as Brachylaena
huillensis O. Hoffm (muhugu), Dalbergia melanoxylon Guill. & Perr. (ebony/
mpingo), Olea europaea L. var. africana (Mill.) P. Green (olive/mutamaiyu),
Spirostachys africana Sond. (mutanga) and Combretum schumanii (mkongolo).
The overexploitation of these species is further complicated by their slow
growth rates and limited recruitment potential under natural conditions (Choge
2002). The widespread depletion of traditional carving woods has led to
increased utilisation of alternative species such as Azadirachta indica A. Juss
(neem), Jacaranda mimosifolia, Mangifera indica (mango), Terminalia brownii
Fresen., Grevillea robusta (mukima) and others.
Owing to the shortage of woodcarving raw materials and limited market
outlets for carved products within their native areas of occupation, the
Wakamba carvers have responded to these constraints by gradually moving
hundreds of kilometres to other forest and savannah areas, particularly to the
Kenyan Coast Province, the geographical focus for this case study.09woodcarving.p65 150 22/12/2004, 11:05