By Nita Bhalla
KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it should be a joke when he was told he might water his drought-hit crops more cheaply, easily and effectively 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!" laughed Mathoka, bending down to inspect the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri town in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.
"But it works," he said, walking over to a nearby tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually assisted me get greater yields, particularly during dry spell durations."
Mathoka stated his earnings had actually doubled in the two years he has actually been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more efficient and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre less expensive than regular diesel.
The biodiesel he is utilizing is not simply good news for him - it is likewise excellent news for the world.
Unlike many biofuels, which are originated from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha, it is made from a by-product of the cotton-making procedure.
That suggests that along with being cleaner and more affordable than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels due to the fact that no additional land is needed to produce it.
From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has driven forest communities off their land and pushed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more successful crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food shortages.
"Our biodiesel comes from squashing 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 utilizing 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 likewise to regional farmers for irrigation."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually so far bought biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an initiative launched by in 2015, said Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate modification is taking a toll throughout east Africa and increasingly irregular weather condition is becoming commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.
The recurring dry spells are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing millions of people in the Horn of Africa to the verge of extreme hunger.
The number of Kenyans in need of food help in March surged by nearly 70 percent over a duration of 8 months to 1.1 million, largely due to bad rains, according to government figures.
With almost half Kenya's 47 counties declared to have a serious scarcity of rain, humanitarian agencies are alerting of increased appetite in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is anticipated through June ... and this is not anticipated to reduce dry spell in impacted locations of Kenya and Somalia," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its latest report.
"Well below-average crop production, poor livestock body conditions, and increased regional food rates are prepared for, which will lower poor homes' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso location, the signs are currently obvious.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the prolonged drought.
Villagers experience trekking longer distances - in some cases more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys laden with empty jerry cans searching for water.
Small-scale farmers, many of whom depend on rain-fed agriculture, go over 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 worried.
A small however growing number are shedding their problem of dependence on the weather condition - and purchasing irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan introduced more than three years ago.
Neighbouring farmers band together to buy the watering system - which includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs starting from 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.
The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month instalments till the total is settled. 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 irrigate a bigger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a range 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 3 months. With the biodiesel pump, I can earn 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 indicate the scheme as a significant advantage in helping improve their output.
"The instalment plan is good. Most farmers don't 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 scheme like this helps us a lot. Our yields are excellent which suggests we can settle the expense of the pump slowly in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school fees."
Zaynagro's effort is still in its early phases, with couple of farmers having paid back the full cost of the pumps.
But such biofuel plans are appealing because they create 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 simplicity of the design - user friendly, robust innovation, assured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme - could help energize rural Africa, he said.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices in the world. The crucial problem is testing concepts and approaches in a collaborative style," stated Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the area need to try and learn from this experiment. Financial organizations should 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 modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Eliminate Drought In Kenya
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