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 inexpensively, cleanly and efficiently utilizing a pump fuelled by cotton waste.
"Who could think it's possible to make a fuel better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" chuckled Mathoka, bending down to examine 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 large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has assisted me get greater yields, particularly throughout dry spell durations."
Mathoka stated his incomes had actually doubled in the 2 years he has actually been pumping water utilizing 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 just great news for him - it is likewise good news for the world.
Unlike many biofuels, which are originated from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha curcas, it is made from a by-product of the cotton-making procedure.
That indicates that in addition to being cleaner and less expensive than routine 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 successful crops-for-fuel - intensifying food shortages.
"Our biodiesel originates from squashing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the procedure of separating the seeds from raw cotton," stated Taher Zavery, managing director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based company producing the biodiesel.
"We began producing and utilizing it to power our cotton ginning factory in 2011. With increased production, we now utilize it for our trucks, sell it to the United Nations to run some of their buses - and also to regional farmers for watering."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually up until now bought biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an initiative launched by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate modification is taking a toll across east Africa and increasingly unpredictable weather condition is becoming commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rains.
The repeating droughts are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing millions of people in the Horn of Africa to the edge of extreme hunger.
The variety of Kenyans in need of food help in March surged by nearly 70 percent over a duration of eight months to 1.1 million, mainly due to bad rains, according to federal government figures.
With almost half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a serious shortage of rain, humanitarian companies are cautioning of increased appetite in the months ahead.
"Only light rainfall is forecast through June ... and this is not expected to ease dry spell in affected areas of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its latest report.
"Well below-average crop production, poor livestock body conditions, and increased local food prices are expected, which will minimize bad homes' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso location, the signs are already obvious.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the prolonged dry spell.
Villagers experience trekking longer ranges - sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys loaded with empty jerry cans searching for water.
Small-scale farmers, most of whom are reliant on rain-fed farming, discuss strategies to offer 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 but growing number are shedding their problem of reliance on the weather - and investing in watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan launched more than 3 years earlier.
Neighbouring farmers band together to buy the watering system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses beginning with 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.
The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free monthly instalments up until the total is settled. They purchase the biodiesel to run the pumps from Zaynagro at 80 shillings a litre.
Farmer Alex Babu Kitheka, 39, stated the biodiesel pump allowed him to water a bigger part of his 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 earn 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 scheme as a major benefit in helping enhance their output.
"The instalment plan is good. Most farmers don't have the cash and can not quickly get a loan to buy a pump like this," said Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood next to his blue biodiesel pump.
"Having a plan like this assists us a lot. Our yields are great which suggests we can settle the cost of the pump gradually in little amounts, and have money left over to pay the school charges."
Zaynagro's effort is still in its early stages, with couple of farmers having actually repaid the full cost of the pumps.
But such biofuel schemes are promising due to the fact that they develop 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 design - easy-to-use, robust innovation, ensured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan - could assist electrify rural Africa, he stated.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices in the world. The key concern is checking concepts and approaches in a collaborative style," said Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the area should attempt and find out from this experiment. Banks should begin try out 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, 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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