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 Kahindi Pekeshe is bold.

"We are not going to let this land go even if it means shedding blood," he informed 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 many individuals opposed to the creation of a large biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

It is a dry area and home to some 20,000 people in addition to globally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious goals

An Italian business has asked the authorities for consent to lease 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 long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is toxic. The location impacted is neighborhood land which is being kept 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 nearly a million hectares in Africa