Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

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 bold.

“We are not going to let this land go even if it implies shedding blood,” he informed the BBC.

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

He is among the numerous people opposed to the development of a large biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour’s drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

It is a dry location and home to some 20,000 individuals along with internationally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious objectives

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

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

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

It has actually rented practically a million hectares in Africa