Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Sitting 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 the BBC.

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

He is one of the many people opposed to the development of a big biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

It is an arid location and home to some 20,000 people along with globally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious objectives

An Italian business has asked the authorities for authorization 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, originally from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is harmful. 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 almost a million hectares in Africa