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 means shedding blood," he informed the BBC.

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

He is one of the many people opposed to the production of a big 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 in addition to internationally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious objectives

An Italian business has asked the authorities for consent to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be turned into bio-diesel.

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

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

It has actually leased nearly a million hectares in Africa