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 defiant.

"We are not going to let this land go even if it suggests shedding blood," he told 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 one of the lots of people opposed to the development of a large biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

It is an arid location and home to some 20,000 individuals along with internationally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

An Italian company has actually asked the authorities for approval to lease 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be become bio-diesel.

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

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

It has leased almost a million hectares in Africa