BenefitsMpingo produces the world’s most expensive wood. Traditionally, its wood has been used for making hoes, construction and fencing poles, fuel, charcoal, pestles, combs, cups and knife handles. In Kenya, mpingo is commercially extinct, meaning it is no longer available in viable quantities. The wood used in the carving industry is mostly smuggled in from Tanzania and Mozambique and there are concerns about its survival in these countries too. One big challenge has been that whereas this tree fetches high prices in the international market, the people in its ecological zones get peanuts.

Source: Daily Nation July 10, 2020 21:00 UTC