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 implies shedding blood,” he told the BBC.

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

He is one of the lots of individuals opposed to the development of a large biofuel plantation in the area, about an hour’s drive inland from the coastal town of Malindi.

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

Ambitious goals

An Italian business has actually 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, originally from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats stay well away as it is harmful. The area affected is neighborhood land which is being kept in trust by the regional council.

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

It has actually leased nearly a million hectares in Africa