By Nita Bhalla
KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka believed it should be a joke when he was informed he might irrigate his drought-hit crops more cheaply, easily and efficiently utilizing 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!" chuckled Mathoka, crouching down to examine 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 assisted me get greater yields, specifically during dry spell durations."
Mathoka said his incomes had doubled in the 2 years he has actually been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre more affordable than regular diesel.
The biodiesel he is using is not simply excellent news for him - it is likewise great news for the world.
Unlike many 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 indicates that in addition to being cleaner and cheaper 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 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 originates 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 began 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 a few of their buses - and likewise to local farmers for irrigation."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have so far purchased biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an initiative launched by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate change is taking a toll across east Africa and progressively erratic weather condition is becoming commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to .
The recurring dry spells are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the edge of extreme appetite.
The number of Kenyans in requirement of food aid in March rose by practically 70 percent over a period of eight months to 1.1 million, largely due to bad rains, according to federal government figures.
With almost half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a major scarcity of rain, humanitarian agencies are warning of increased appetite in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is forecast through June ... and this is not anticipated to minimize dry spell in impacted locations of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its newest report.
"Well below-average crop production, bad livestock body conditions, and increased regional food prices are anticipated, which will lower poor homes' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso location, the signs are already apparent.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the prolonged dry spell.
Villagers experience travelling longer distances - in some cases more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans searching for water.
Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom depend on rain-fed farming, discuss strategies to sell their goats to make ends fulfill if the harvest is bad.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are stressed.
A small however growing number are shedding their burden of dependence on the weather condition - and purchasing irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme launched more than three years earlier.
Neighbouring farmers unite to purchase the watering system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses starting from 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.
The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free monthly instalments till 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 portion of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety of vegetables consisting of 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 village, 40 km (25 miles) from Kitui town.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Other farmers point to the scheme as a significant advantage in assisting improve their output.
"The instalment scheme is excellent. 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 great which suggests we can pay off the cost of the pump gradually in small amounts, and have money left over to pay the school costs."
Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early stages, with few farmers having repaid the full expense of the pumps.
But such biofuel schemes are promising since they develop a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for profit, stated Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.
The simpleness of the design - easy-to-use, robust innovation, assured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme - might assist energize rural Africa, he stated.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives on the planet. The essential problem is evaluating ideas and techniques in a collective fashion," stated Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the region ought to attempt and discover from this experiment. Financial organizations need to begin try out 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, females's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights and environment change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Eliminate Drought In Kenya
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