Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Being in the shade of a tree beside 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 very crucial 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 production of a large biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour’s drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

It is an arid area and home to some 20,000 individuals along with globally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious goals

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

This plant, originally from South America, has actually long been grown in Africa as a hedge to keep out goats remain well away as it is toxic. The location affected is neighborhood 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 actually rented practically a million hectares in Africa