Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Being 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 implies shedding blood," he informed the BBC.

"Land is very essential 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 creation of a large biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

It is a dry area and home to some 20,000 individuals in addition to globally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious goals

An Italian company has asked the authorities for consent 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 stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is harmful. The area affected is neighborhood land which is being held in trust by the local council.

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

It has rented nearly a million hectares in Africa