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 implies shedding blood," he informed the BBC.

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

He is one of the many people opposed to the development of a large biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

It is an arid location and home to some 20,000 individuals as well as worldwide threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious objectives

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

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

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

It has actually leased nearly a million hectares in Africa