Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Sitting 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 indicates shedding blood,” he informed the BBC.

“Land is extremely crucial to us. We farm and get our livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead.”

He is among the numerous 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 location and home to some 20,000 people as well as globally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious goals

An Italian company has actually asked the authorities for permission to rent 50,000 hectares 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 stay out goats remain well away as it is toxic. The area affected is neighborhood land which is being held in trust by the regional council.

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

It has actually rented nearly a million hectares in Africa