Tree farmers are rather fearful that they might be in the long-term verge of losing out in the electricity poles business. This comes around a time when the Kenya Power company has embraced use of concrete electricity poles to replace wooden poles. Though the high production and handling costs of the concrete poles will tend to protect them, farmers and suppliers feel that this programme may affect their long-term prospects in the business.

The project  began in 2011, targeting to replace 13,000 wooden poles in areas which are prone to fire, water and termite damage. The initial plan was to install 21, 950 concrete poles. Already 10,000 wooden poles have been replaced.

Concrete poles cost 33% more than wooden poles, with a life span of over 60 years, twice that of treated wooden poles. The average cost of a concrete electricity pole is  KES 16,000. According to Farmbiz Africa, farmers who sell poles to companies contracted by Kenya Power to buy on its behalf get KES 3000 per pole.

Kenya Power company buys approximately 25,000 poles in a month. Out of this, about 13,000come from local farmers, who have  have already begun seeking optional markets in the  construction sector, government agencies and parastatals for their trees. The rest of the bulk is imported.

Kenya Power spends between KES 2.5 billion and KES 3 billion annually on wooden poles.