Agriculture (Basic Land Usage) Rules, 1965 (Cap. 318)

KENYA The Agriculture (Basic Land Usage) Rules, 1965. - 25 January 1965. The Kenya Gazette No.5, 2 February 1965, Suppl. 6, p. 35. 1. These Rules may be cited as the Agriculture (Basic Land Usage) Rules, 1965, and shall apply to all land in Kenya excepting plots of not more than two acres used for residential purposes only within a mu nicipality, a former township, or township, and lands used for recrea tional purposes. 2. In these Rules, unless the context otherwise requires " authorized officer" means the Director of Agriculture, a Regional Agricultural Officer, a District Agricultural Committee and any per son appointed in writing in that behalf by the Director, a Regional Agricultural Officer or a District AgriculturaJ Committee; " owner" means the occupier, cultivator or right holder of the land in question; "percentage slope" means the vertical interval expressed as a per centage of the horizontal distance between two points; .. vegetation" means trees, palms, bamboos, stumps, brushwood, undergrowth, reeds and grass; .. watercourse" means a natural channel or depression in which water flows, either continuously or intermittently. 3. Any person who cultivates, cuts down or destroys any vegetation, or depastures any livestock on any land of which the slope exceeds 35 per cent shall be guilty of an offence: Provided that an authorized officer may authorize an owner to culti vate, depasture, cut down or destroy vegetation on such land subject to such conditions as he may decide. 4. An authorized officer may by written order prohibit cultivation or cutting down or destruction of vegetation on any land of which the slope exceeds 20 per cent. 5. (I) Any person who cultivates any land of which the slope exceeds 12 per cent and does not exceed 35 per cent unless the soil is protected against erosion by conservation works to the satisfaction of an author ized officer shall be guilty of an offence. (2) Where the soil on any slope exceeding 12 per cent is not, in the opinion of an authorized officer, adequately protected against erosion, he may, by written order, require the owner to construct such works or to carry out such repairs as he deems necessary within such reason able period of time as may be specified in such order. (3) Any person who cultivates by ploughing or other means any land of which the slope exceeds 12 per cent except along the contour, or, except with the written permission of an authorized officer, digs or ploughs any boundary furrows, trenches or ditches on such land, shall be guilty of an offence. 6. Any person who, except with the written permission of an author ized officer, cultivates or destroys the soil, or cuts down any vegetation or depastures any livestock, on any land lying within six feet of a water course, or, in the case of a watercourse more than six feet wide, within a distance equal to the width of that watercourse to a maximum of one hundred feet, shall be guilty of an offence. 7. (I) Any person who uses any channel, ditch, or drainage way which has been constructed for the removal of run-off water as a footpath, road, wagon track, or livestock track shall be guilty of an offence, and the owners of the land over which such channel, ditch or drainage way passes, and of the adjoining land, shall comply with any orders issued by an authorized officer for the effective removal of run-off water and the avoidance of erosion. (2) The owner of any land shall take such steps as an authorized officer may determine to prevent water from flowing on to any adjoining land in such manner as to cause the erosion thereof, and shall comply with such orders as may be given by an authorized officer to carry out such measures as the Authority deems necessary to prevent such erosion. 8. Any person who fails to comply with any order or with any condi tions made under these Rules shall be guilty of an offence. 9. Any person aggrieved by a decision taken, or any order made, under these Rules may, within 28 days of such decision or order, appeal to the Agricultural Appeals Tribunal, whose decision shall be final and shall not be questioned in any court. 10. Any person who is guilty of an offence under these Rules shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand shiIlings or to imprison ment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and im prisonment. 11. A District Agricultural Committee may make regulations relating to agriculture and land usage under these Rules in respect of the district for which it is established.