Mechanised Logging on Kenya’s Tea Estates – with Finnish Know-how

Beatrice Cheruiyot climbs into the cab, takes off her shoes and begins systematically checking the harvester’s systems in accordance with company procedures. Her colleague left the machine in good order the previous evening; everything is as it should be, she notes with satisfaction. She has already completed the external inspection, and everything checked out. Beatrice then tests the crane and harvester head functions before getting down to work, felling and stacking eucalyptus. Her machine is a Swedish-built Eco Log harvester, and the setting is Kericho County in western Kenya. So what is the story behind it all?

Kenya is one of the world’s largest tea-producing countries. The rainy slopes of its highlands provide ideal growing conditions. The scenery is strikingly beautiful, with an ever-changing mosaic of tea estates, plantation forests and rainforest. The rainforests help regulate the local microclimate, although climate change is bringing greater uncertainty in the form of drought, hail and thunderstorms. Lightning warning systems are used on the highest slopes.