Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

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 is bold.

"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 livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead."

He is among the lots of people opposed to the creation of a big biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

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

Ambitious goals

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 become 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 impacted is neighborhood land which is being kept in trust by the local council.

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

It has rented almost a million hectares in Africa