On the NATIONAL AGENDA that is guiding presidential elections, land issue is conspicuously absent. I do not believe Kenya can move forward without giving this issue preference. Without a doubt this is the number one killer of Kenyans through ethnic violence, hunger, debilitating poverty and not to forget that traditionally land is holly to people in that it nurtured/s our cows to pay dowry, grow food crops that we used as food, and other ceremonies.
How then can we forget about this emotive issue that is dividing and killing our ethnic groups.

Then why does the government allow such things to be grown for trials in the country?

This investors have 3 billion shillings budget for every 10,000 hectares for local projects..This will work out to about 36 billion shillings for the entire 120,000 hectares.Who are these shareholders who can invest all this capital on such shaky enterprise?

Another thing,Canada Securities Administrators issued a cease trade order activity in May.This must somehow affect their capital in some ways.

Biofuels as the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler says, is a crime against humanity. He said, it is a crime against humanity to divert arable land to the production of crops which are then burned for fuel. It makes more sense to use agricultural waste, such as corn cobs and banana leaves, rather than crops themselves to produce fuel.

Now we know the reason for the fighting ! there were whispers in the wind about Kuwait buying large tracts of land in the delta , we all know how the west and middle east are buying large tracts of land for farming in africa Ethiopia, Mozambique, Madagascar etc The violence was meant to displace the locals or force them to sell their land for a song. This are the fruits of the second scramble for Africa.

With a population of 40million and more, mostly arid and semi arid land, plus constant crop failures and drought, I would pray that we find a good leader. Most Kenyans are small scale farmers and pastoralists, they should receive more education, incentive and assistance to produce more. Imagine how many farmers can produce food for Kenya with 10 000ha? they will not only alleviate hunger in the region but they will create jobs and educate their children and also uplift their living standards.
We should have a platform where we can elect leaders who starts from a local vision before jumping global. At the moment I do not see any.

The article seem to portray the investor as the problem. The issue is land that should be addressed by the yet to be created National Land Commission. Land issues in Kenya re too hot to handle.

How come people were removed from their farms in Kwale for mining & as of date there is nothing going on?

Africa is doomed by these neocolonialism. Why can't Kenyans themselves plant it? Look here Canada is a rich country with minerals including oil and coal. Why produce Biofuels when we can't feed ourselves? I see DANGER!

Our people are unfortunately used to people with close ties to power being bribed and approving schemes which are not necessarily for the benefit of Kenyans. What is evident here is that someone high up in government is being paid a LOT of money to approve long term leases to the detriment of Kenyans. Tiomin, another Canadian company, got away with it after people lost the energy to fight Tiomin anymore, as if they did not have a government.

I'm not sure what the point of this article is ... so is the mzungu the enemy?

It is not the mundele alone, those politicians are also enemies of the people, the government included .

Jatropha is always a wrong crop, tana delta is a fertile, irrigable region suitable for growing food crops, they claim that jatropha can grow in arid and marginalized areas (yes it will grow but good luck flowering), If the government and bedford are indeed genuine about developing arid land kenya for biofuel production, let them try it in the northern frontiers...

This is madness. How can this country reserve land for the plantation of crops for biofuels while people still go hungry. The locals are always trapped into giving out their lands for mirages. How can the government block the use of land by leasing it to foreigners for 45 years? I thought that we had people whop could use their brains in this government. It is time we had people who can really lead this country to real independence and prosperity and not into slavery like these backward people in the present government are proposing. Bure kabisa.

When an investor tries to do something positive, there is always alot of opposition. This country is not short of arable land but there is a big shortage of people who are ready to till the land but an overwhelming population of people who have to eat. I know an area which is highly arable but the people in that area receive food aid and yet the land is idle.

If the something positive is lining ones pockets at the expense of Kenyans then let them go and invest elsewhere. Kenyans need that their stomachs be filled and not petrol tanks of vehicles that they do not possess.

These communities should be left alone. Let them starve & be left behind while the 'progressive' areas develop.

Too bad it's the locals who always get the raw end of the deal with this dodgy deals!Just ask the people of kericho what happened to their land taken over by the white settlers with leases running upto 999 yrs-to this day it is still in their hands!Land is rapidly running out -expansion to mau forest becomes inevitable.I would urge the tana delta communities to be carefull what they mandate their politicians to sign up to.You don't know what you have untill it is gone -I.e a balanced ecosystem.

You left one thing out, the land taken by politicians and both the then minister of agric and land and thier cronies in parliament, stop giving us half baked articles tuambiane ukweli

Yours is also half baked. Name and shame. Toa yote. Which minister? How much land?

On one hand we are discouraging the growing of tobacco, and on the other hand we want to encourage the growing of Jatropha which is very rich in carcinogenic phorbol.

Can you give us more information on that phorbol,Mr Onyango.

Phorbol ester is one component of jatropha oil. Phorbol ester is a co-carcinogen in animals (Horiuchi et al., 1987; Goel et al., 2007) and promotes tumor growth when placed directly on the skin of animals. Growing jatropha will have a negative impact on the health of people, livestock, fish, and birds living along the Tana River and including the Indian Ocean. If we can’t allow Kenyan farmers to grow genetically modified maize, why then should we allow them to grow jatropha plant?

You may need to write a counter article. You dropped a few biological terms which I guess you think people understand. Write in layman's language what you are trying to say.