Kenya biofuel project stirs controversy

By Duncan Miriri

TANA DELTA, Kenya (Reuters) - In a clearing on Kenya's coastal grasslands, a group of nomadic herders shout down government officials who have flown in from Nairobi to explain the benefits of a proposed $350 million sugar project.

"If the delta is planted with sugar, we will run out of grazing land for our cattle," local community leader Bile Bundit says. Others wave placards at the flustered officials sitting in a makeshift tent made from wooden poles and sack-cloth.

Hoping to plug Kenya's annual 200,000-tonne sugar deficit and make biofuel, the government, together with the nation's largest miller Mumias, plans to plant cane on 20,000 hectares of the vast Tana River Delta on the Indian Ocean coast.

The plan has aroused enormous controversy in east Africa's largest economy, pitting ancient traditions against development, environment against industry, and traditional nomads against large-scale farming.

Supporters say the project will create 20,000 direct and indirect jobs, reduce the import bill and put biofuel-powered cars on Kenyan roads.

Critics say it will crush local ways of life and harm one of Kenya's most pristine and bio-diverse wetlands. The project would transform the riverine vegetation of the delta -- grass, forests and mango trees -- into vast fields of sugar cane.

"We cannot just start messing around with the wetland because we need biofuel and sugar," Kenyan Nobel laureate and environmentalist Wangari Maathai said.

Earlier this month, Kenya's High Court ordered a temporary halt to the project pending a judicial review of its impact. But the government is determined to overcome that hurdle.