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 could water his drought-hit crops more cheaply, cleanly and effectively utilizing a pump sustained 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 town in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.
"But it works," he stated, walking over to a neighboring tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has assisted me get greater yields, especially throughout drought periods."
Mathoka said his incomes had 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 cheaper than regular diesel.
The biodiesel he is utilizing is not just excellent 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 by-product of the cotton-making process.
That implies that as well as being cleaner and less expensive 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 actually driven forest neighborhoods off their land and pushed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more rewarding crops-for-fuel - worsening food shortages.
"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, managing 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 utilize it for our trucks, offer it to the United Nations to run some of their buses - and also to regional farmers for irrigation."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually so far purchased biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an effort introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate change is taking a toll across east Africa and progressively irregular weather condition is ending up being commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rainfall.
The recurring dry spells are ruining crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing millions of individuals in the Horn of Africa to the brink of severe appetite.
The number of Kenyans in requirement of food aid in March surged by practically 70 percent over a period of eight months to 1.1 million, largely due to poor rains, according to government figures.
With practically half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a severe lack of rain, humanitarian firms are alerting of increased hunger in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is forecast through June ... and this is not anticipated to ease drought in affected locations of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its most current report.
"Well below-average crop production, bad livestock body conditions, and increased local food prices are prepared for, which will decrease bad homes' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso area, the indications are already apparent.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an of the extended drought.
Villagers complain of trekking longer distances - in some cases more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys laden with empty jerry cans looking for water.
Small-scale farmers, most of whom depend on rain-fed agriculture, discuss plans to offer 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 problem of dependence on the weather - and purchasing watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan introduced more than 3 years ago.
Neighbouring farmers band together to buy the watering system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs beginning with 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.
The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free regular monthly instalments up until the overall is settled. They purchase the biodiesel to run the pumps from Zaynagro at 80 shillings a litre.
Farmer Alex Babu Kitheka, 39, said the biodiesel pump allowed him to irrigate a larger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a range of veggies 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," 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 major advantage in helping enhance their output.
"The instalment plan is excellent. Most farmers do not have the money and can not easily get a loan to buy a pump like this," stated Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood beside his blue biodiesel pump.
"Having a plan like this helps us a lot. Our yields are excellent which implies 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 phases, with few farmers having actually repaid the complete cost of the pumps.
But such biofuel schemes are appealing due to the fact that they create 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 simplicity of the model - user friendly, robust technology, guaranteed supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go plan - might assist electrify rural Africa, he said.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices on the planet. The essential concern is checking concepts and methods in a collaborative style," said Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the region should try and gain from this experiment. Financial institutions must start explore loans to groups of farmers. International donors and financiers need 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, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, home 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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