Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

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 means shedding blood," he told the BBC.

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

He is among the many individuals opposed to the creation of a big biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

It is a dry area and home to some 20,000 people as well as internationally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious objectives

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

This plant, originally from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats remain well away as it is poisonous. The area impacted is community land which is being held in trust by the regional council.

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

It has rented practically a million hectares in Africa