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 told he might water his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, 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 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 actually assisted me get higher yields, especially throughout dry spell periods.”

Mathoka said his revenues had doubled in the two years he has actually been pumping water utilizing biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre less expensive than regular diesel.

The biodiesel he is using is not simply excellent news for him - it is likewise excellent 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 implies that along with being cleaner and cheaper than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels due to the fact that no additional land is required to produce it.

From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has actually driven forest communities off their land and pressed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more successful crops-for-fuel - intensifying food lacks.

“Our biodiesel comes from squashing 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 company producing the biodiesel.

“We started producing and utilizing 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 a few of their buses - and likewise to regional farmers for watering.”

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have so far invested in biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an initiative released by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate change 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 droughts are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the verge of extreme cravings.

The variety of Kenyans in need of food help in March surged by nearly 70 percent over a period of eight months to 1.1 million, largely due to bad rains, according to government figures.

With almost half Kenya’s 47 counties stated to have a major shortage of rain, humanitarian companies are warning of increased hunger in the months ahead.

“Only light rains is forecast through June … and this is not expected to reduce dry spell in affected locations of Kenya and Somalia,” stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its newest report.

“Well below-average crop production, poor livestock body conditions, and increased local food prices are expected, which will lower poor homes’ access to food.”

In Kitui’s Kyuso area, the indications are already obvious.

Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the extended drought.

Villagers suffer trekking longer ranges - sometimes 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 plans to sell their goats to make ends satisfy if the harvest is bad.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui’s farmers are worried.

A little however growing number are shedding their burden of dependence on the weather - and buying irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro’s cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan released more than 3 years back.

Neighbouring farmers band together to invest in the irrigation system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs beginning with 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.

The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month instalments till the overall 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 enabled him to water a bigger portion of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety 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 earn 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 plan as a significant advantage in helping improve their output.

“The instalment plan is great. Most farmers do not have the money and can not quickly get a loan to buy a pump like this,” stated 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 implies we can settle the expense of the pump gradually in little amounts, and have cash left over to pay the school charges.”

Zaynagro’s effort is still in its early stages, with couple of farmers having actually paid back the complete cost of the pumps.

But such biofuel plans are appealing due to the fact that they produce a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for revenue, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.

The simpleness of the model - easy-to-use, robust innovation, ensured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go scheme - might help energize rural Africa, he said.

“There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices on the planet. The crucial issue is testing concepts and methods in a collaborative fashion,” said Sanyal.

“Other cotton ginning factories in the region should attempt and gain from this experiment. Financial organizations should begin exploring with 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, ladies’s and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights and environment modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)