Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Being 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 extremely important to us. We farm and get our livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead.”

He is among the lots of individuals opposed to the creation of a big biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour’s drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

It is a dry location and home to some 20,000 people along with globally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious objectives

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

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