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 could irrigate his drought-hit crops more cheaply, easily and effectively using a pump fuelled by cotton waste.
"Who could think it's possible to make a fuel much better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" laughed Mathoka, bending 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 said, walking over to a close-by tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get greater yields, specifically during dry spell durations."
Mathoka stated his incomes had actually doubled in the two years he has been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre cheaper than regular diesel.
The biodiesel he is utilizing is not simply great news for him - it is also great news for the planet.
Unlike the majority of biofuels, which are stemmed from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha, it is made from a by-product of the cotton-making process.
That indicates that as well as being cleaner and cheaper 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 actually driven forest neighborhoods off their land and pushed 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 started producing and utilizing 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 regional farmers for irrigation."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have so far purchased biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an effort launched by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate change is taking a toll across east Africa and progressively unpredictable weather is ending up being commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rainfall.
The recurring dry spells are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing millions of individuals in the Horn of Africa to the verge of extreme appetite.
The variety of Kenyans in requirement of food help in March rose by practically 70 percent over a period of eight months to 1.1 million, largely due to poor rains, according to federal government figures.
With almost half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a severe scarcity of rain, humanitarian agencies are cautioning of increased hunger in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is forecast through June ... and this is not expected to minimize dry spell in affected areas of Kenya and Somalia," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its most current report.
"Well below-average crop production, poor animals body conditions, and increased local food prices are expected, which will minimize bad homes' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso location, the indications are currently obvious.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the prolonged dry spell.
Villagers complain of travelling longer ranges - often more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans looking for water.
Small-scale farmers, many of whom depend on rain-fed agriculture, discuss plans to sell their goats to make ends fulfill if the harvest is bad.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are worried.
A little but growing number are shedding their burden of dependence on the weather - and buying watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan introduced more than 3 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 an initial payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month instalments till the overall is settled. They purchase the biodiesel to run the pumps from Zaynagro at 80 a litre.
Farmer Alex Babu Kitheka, 39, stated the biodiesel pump allowed him to water a bigger portion 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 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 plan as a significant benefit in assisting enhance their output.
"The instalment plan is great. Most farmers do not have the money and can not easily get a loan to purchase a pump like this," said Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood beside his blue biodiesel pump.
"Having a scheme like this helps us a lot. Our yields are great which suggests we can settle the expense of the pump gradually in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school costs."
Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early stages, with couple of farmers having paid back the full expense of the pumps.
But such biofuel schemes are promising because 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 simplicity of the model - user friendly, robust innovation, ensured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan - might help energize rural Africa, he stated.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives worldwide. The essential concern is evaluating ideas and approaches in a collective style," stated Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the area should try and find out from this experiment. Banks should begin experimenting 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 modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Eliminate Drought In Kenya
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