Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Being in the shade of a tree beside his thatched mud hut in in Kenya's Dakatcha Woodlands, Joshua Kahindi Pekeshe is defiant.

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

"Land is really important to us. We farm and get our income from it. On this land we bury our dead."

He is among the lots of people opposed to the creation 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 internationally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

An Italian company has asked the authorities for consent to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are abundant in oil that can be become bio-diesel.

This plant, initially from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out animals - goats stay well away as it is poisonous. The area 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 practically a million hectares in Africa