By Nita Bhalla
KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it needs to be a joke when he was informed he might water his drought-hit crops more cheaply, cleanly and efficiently using a pump sustained by cotton waste.
"Who could believe it's possible to make a fuel much better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" laughed Mathoka, crouching down to check the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri village in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.
"But it works," he stated, walking over to a nearby tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get higher yields, especially during dry spell durations."
Mathoka stated his profits had doubled in the two years he has actually been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre cheaper than routine diesel.
The biodiesel he is using is not simply good news for him - it is also great news for the planet.
Unlike most biofuels, which are originated from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha curcas, it is made from a by-product of the cotton-making process.
That suggests that as well as being cleaner and less expensive than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels due to the fact that no extra land is needed to produce it.
From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has actually driven forest neighborhoods off their land and pressed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more rewarding 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," said Taher Zavery, handling director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based company 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, offer it to the United Nations to run some of their buses - and also to local farmers for irrigation."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have up until now purchased biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an initiative introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate modification is taking a toll across east Africa and progressively irregular weather condition is becoming commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rainfall.
The recurring dry spells are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the brink of severe appetite.
The number of Kenyans in need of food help in March rose by almost 70 percent over a duration of eight months to 1.1 million, mostly due to bad rains, according to government figures.
With practically half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a severe scarcity of rain, firms are alerting of increased cravings in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is anticipated through June ... and this is not anticipated to reduce drought in affected areas of Kenya and Somalia," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its newest report.
"Well below-average crop production, poor livestock body conditions, and increased regional food prices are prepared for, which will reduce poor families' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso area, the indications are already apparent.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the prolonged drought.
Villagers grumble of travelling longer distances - sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys laden with empty jerry cans looking for water.
Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom are reliant on rain-fed farming, discuss plans to sell their goats to make ends satisfy if the harvest is poor.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are fretted.
A little however growing number are shedding their concern of dependence on the weather condition - and purchasing watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan released more than three years ago.
Neighbouring farmers band together to purchase the watering system - which consists of the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses beginning with 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.
The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free monthly 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, stated the biodiesel pump permitted him to water a bigger part 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 three months. With the biodiesel pump, I can make 45,000 shillings," said Alex Babu Kitheka, standing near his plot in Ilangilo town, 40 km (25 miles) from Kitui town.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Other farmers point to the scheme as a major benefit in assisting enhance their output.
"The instalment scheme is good. Most farmers don't have the money and can not quickly get a loan to buy a pump like this," stated 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 good which means we can settle the cost of the pump gradually in little quantities, and have money left over to pay the school fees."
Zaynagro's effort is still in its early stages, with few farmers having actually repaid the complete cost of the pumps.
But such biofuel schemes are promising since they produce a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for earnings, stated Sanjoy Sanyal, senior associate for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.
The simpleness of the design - user friendly, robust innovation, ensured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go scheme - might help amaze rural Africa, he said.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices worldwide. The key problem is evaluating concepts and approaches in a collaborative fashion," stated Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the region ought to try and find out from this experiment. Financial organizations must start exploring with loans to groups of farmers. International donors and financiers 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, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Fight Drought In Kenya
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