Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Sitting in the shade of a tree next to his thatched mud hut in in Kenya's Dakatcha Woodlands, Joshua Kahindi Pekeshe is bold.

"We are not going to let this land go even if it means shedding blood," he told the BBC.

"Land is extremely crucial to us. We farm and get our livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead."

He is one of the lots of individuals opposed to the production of a large biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

It is an arid area and home to some 20,000 people as well as globally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious objectives

An Italian business has actually asked the authorities for consent to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are abundant in oil that can be turned into bio-diesel.

This plant, initially from South America, has actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats remain well away as it is dangerous. The location impacted is neighborhood land which is being kept in trust by the regional council.

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.

It has actually leased almost a million hectares in Africa