Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel growth

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 defiant.

"We are not going to let this land go even if it suggests shedding blood," he told the BBC.

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

He is among the numerous individuals opposed to the development of a large biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

It is a dry location and home to some 20,000 individuals along with internationally threatened animal and bird types.

Ambitious goals

An Italian business has asked the authorities for consent to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha, whose seeds are abundant 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 dangerous. The location affected is neighborhood land which is being held in trust by the local council.

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

It has rented nearly a million hectares in Africa