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 told the BBC.
"Land is really essential to us. We farm and get our livelihood from it. On this land we bury our dead."
He is one of the lots of people opposed to the creation 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 people as well as worldwide threatened animal and bird species.
Ambitious objectives
An Italian company has asked the authorities for approval to rent 50,000 hectares there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be turned into bio-diesel.
This plant, initially from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats remain well away as it is toxic. The location impacted 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 leased practically a million hectares in Africa
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Kenyans Fear Dakatcha Woodlands Biofuel Expansion
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