The Kenya Forestry Research Institute was established in 1986 under the science and Technology Act (Chapter 250) to carry out research in forestry and allied natural resources. The institute has a role to play in influencing polices on forest resource management.
Since 1998, the Institute has continued to restructure its research programme by:
- Consolidating 17 discipline-oriented divisions into six programmes as contained in Kenya Forests Master Plan;
- Adopting multidisciplinary research approach;
- Focusing on problem oriented research;
- Decentralizing research activities to facilitate improved interaction and linkages with the local users;
- Improving facilities in six centres in representative ecological zones of the country;
- Adopting focused capacity building;
- Developing beneficial partnerships;
- Decentralising dissemination of research findings and seed distribution;
- Reducing staff from 1600 in 1998 to 990 in 2008 without compromising the performance of the Institute. This has resulted in increase of funds for research and maintenance of facilities.