By Nita Bhalla
KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka believed it needs to be a joke when he was told he might water his drought-hit crops more cheaply, easily and effectively using 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!" chuckled 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 nearby tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually assisted me get greater yields, specifically during dry spell durations."
Mathoka said his revenues had doubled in the two years he has actually been pumping water using 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 great news for him - it is likewise good news for the world.
Unlike the majority of biofuels, which are obtained from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha curcas, it is made from a by-product of the cotton-making process.
That means that as well as being cleaner and less expensive than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels due to the fact that no extra land is required to produce it.
From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has driven forest neighborhoods off their land and pushed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more profitable crops-for-fuel - intensifying food scarcities.
"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, handling director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based company 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, sell 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 actually so far purchased biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an initiative released by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate modification is taking a toll throughout east Africa and progressively irregular weather is becoming commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.
The recurring droughts are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless in the Horn of Africa to the verge of severe appetite.
The variety of Kenyans in need of food help in March rose by nearly 70 percent over a period of eight months to 1.1 million, mainly due to poor rains, according to federal government figures.
With practically half Kenya's 47 counties declared to have a serious shortage of rain, humanitarian agencies are warning of increased hunger in the months ahead.
"Only light rainfall is anticipated through June ... and this is not anticipated to minimize drought in affected areas of Kenya and Somalia," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its most current report.
"Well below-average crop production, bad livestock body conditions, and increased local food costs are expected, which will decrease poor homes' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso area, the signs are already apparent.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the prolonged dry spell.
Villagers suffer travelling longer ranges - often more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys laden with empty jerry cans in search of water.
Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom depend on rain-fed agriculture, discuss strategies to sell their goats to make ends satisfy if the harvest is bad.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are fretted.
A little however growing number are shedding their problem of reliance on the weather condition - and investing in irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan introduced more than three years back.
Neighbouring farmers band together to invest in the irrigation system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs beginning from 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.
The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free regular monthly instalments until the total is settled. 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 irrigate a larger 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 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 major advantage in assisting improve their output.
"The instalment plan is good. 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 beside his blue biodiesel pump.
"Having a plan like this assists us a lot. Our yields are good which implies we can pay off the expense of the pump gradually in small 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 full expense of the pumps.
But such biofuel plans are appealing due to the fact that they develop a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for earnings, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.
The simpleness of the model - user friendly, robust innovation, ensured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go plan - might help energize rural Africa, he stated.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives on the planet. The key concern is evaluating concepts and approaches in a collaborative style," stated Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the region need to try and gain from this experiment. Financial organizations must start explore 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, residential or commercial 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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