By Nita Bhalla
KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it should be a joke when he was informed he might irrigate his drought-hit crops more cheaply, cleanly and effectively utilizing a pump fuelled by cotton waste.
"Who could believe it's possible to make a fuel better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" chuckled Mathoka, bending down to inspect the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri village in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.
"But it works," he said, strolling over to a neighboring tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get greater yields, specifically throughout drought periods."
Mathoka stated his earnings had doubled in the 2 years he has been pumping water utilizing biodiesel, which is both more efficient and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre more affordable than regular diesel.
The biodiesel he is utilizing is not simply good news for him - it is also great news for the planet.
Unlike a lot of biofuels, which are stemmed from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha curcas, it is made from a byproduct of the cotton-making process.
That indicates that in addition to being cleaner and more affordable than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels since no extra land is needed to produce it.
From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has driven forest neighborhoods off their land and pushed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more profitable crops-for-fuel - intensifying food lacks.
"Our biodiesel comes from crushing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the process of separating the seeds from raw cotton," stated Taher Zavery, handling director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based business producing the biodiesel.
"We started producing and using it to power our cotton ginning factory in 2011. With increased production, we now use it for our trucks, sell it to the United Nations to run a few of their buses - and likewise to local farmers for watering."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually so far invested in biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an effort released by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate change is taking a toll throughout east Africa and increasingly unpredictable weather condition is becoming commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rainfall.
The recurring dry spells are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals - people in the Horn of Africa to the verge of severe appetite.
The number of Kenyans in need of food help in March surged by practically 70 percent over a duration of eight months to 1.1 million, mostly due to bad rains, according to federal government figures.
With almost half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a serious shortage of rain, humanitarian firms are warning of increased hunger in the months ahead.
"Only light rainfall is forecast through June ... and this is not expected to reduce drought in affected areas of Kenya and Somalia," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its most current report.
"Well below-average crop production, bad livestock body conditions, and increased local food rates are prepared for, which will decrease poor households' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso location, the indications are currently apparent.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the prolonged dry spell.
Villagers grumble of travelling longer distances - often more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys loaded with empty jerry cans searching for water.
Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom depend on rain-fed agriculture, discuss strategies to offer their goats to make ends satisfy if the harvest is poor.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are worried.
A little however growing number are shedding their problem of reliance on the weather condition - and buying watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme introduced more than 3 years earlier.
Neighbouring farmers unite to invest in the irrigation system - which includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses starting from 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.
The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month instalments up until the total is paid off. They buy the biodiesel to run the pumps from Zaynagro at 80 shillings a litre.
Farmer Alex Babu Kitheka, 39, said the biodiesel pump enabled him to water a larger portion of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety of vegetables including maize, tomatoes, spinach and sweet potatoes.
"With a diesel pump, maize yields were lower and I would get 15,000 shillings in 3 months. With the biodiesel pump, I can make 45,000 shillings," stated Alex Babu Kitheka, standing near his plot in Ilangilo town, 40 km (25 miles) from Kitui town.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Other farmers point to the plan as a significant advantage in assisting improve their output.
"The instalment scheme is good. Most farmers do not have the cash and can not easily get a loan to purchase a pump like this," said Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood next to his blue biodiesel pump.
"Having a plan like this assists us a lot. Our yields are excellent which implies we can pay off the cost of the pump gradually in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school charges."
Zaynagro's effort is still in its early stages, with few farmers having actually repaid the full cost of the pumps.
But such biofuel schemes are appealing due to the fact that they develop a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for profit, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior associate for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.
The simpleness of the design - easy-to-use, robust technology, assured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan - might help amaze rural Africa, he said.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives worldwide. The essential concern is testing concepts and methods in a collaborative fashion," said Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the area need to attempt and gain from this experiment. Financial institutions must start exploring with loans to groups of farmers. International donors and investors require to support experimentation."
($1 = 101.3000 Kenyan shillings) (Reporting by Nita Bhalla @nitabhalla, Editing by Claire Cozens. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, ladies's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, residential or commercial property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Eliminate Drought In Kenya
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