Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Sitting 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 suggests shedding blood,” he informed the BBC.

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

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

It is an arid location and home to some 20,000 people along with internationally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious objectives

An Italian company has actually asked the authorities for permission 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, 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 poisonous. The location affected is 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