Conservation and Promotion of Indigenous Plants and Trees in Meru

The research team set out on 8 August 2007 to visit Mr. Samson Mathiu's farm at Ntharu, Nkueni division, Mikumbune location, South Imenti, Meru district. Samson is an active environmentalist and expert on indigenous plants. He had been identified as a potential resource during the Memorialization & Museums Workshop facilitated by Prof Karega-Munene and held at USIU in May 2007. As part of its outreach and collaboration strategy, the SDIC team conducted an extensive two-day research in the area with the assistance of Samson and his friend Francis Kirimi Inoti. A great deal of notes were made and photographs taken on African indigenous trees and crops. The team returned to USIU on 10 August 2007. Of great interest to the research team was the evidence of the transit situation that exist in our rural areas moving from indigenous to current lifestyles within three generations in the region. According to Ibui (2007), the former were acquired over several generations and allowed the locals to use, manage and conserve wild resources in a sustainable mode. In the teams' observation, society's emphasis on a monetary system has seen a shift in plant value systems