By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka believed it should be a joke when he was told he could water his drought-hit crops more cheaply, easily and effectively utilizing a pump fuelled by cotton waste.

“Who could believe it’s possible to make a fuel better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn’t!” laughed Mathoka, crouching down to inspect 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 assisted me get greater yields, especially throughout dry spell durations.”

Mathoka stated his profits had actually doubled in the 2 years he has been pumping water utilizing biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre more affordable than routine diesel.

The biodiesel he is using is not just great news for him - it is also excellent news for the planet.

Unlike many biofuels, which are originated from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha curcas, it is made from a byproduct of the cotton-making process.

That means that as well as being cleaner and more affordable than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels because no extra land is required to produce it.

From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has actually driven forest neighborhoods off their land and pressed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more rewarding crops-for-fuel - worsening food scarcities.

“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, 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 utilize it for our trucks, sell it to the United Nations to run a few of their buses - and also to local farmers for irrigation.”

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually up until now purchased biodiesel pumps for irrigation 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 erratic weather condition is becoming commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.

The repeating droughts are crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the verge of severe hunger.

The variety of Kenyans in requirement of food help in March rose by nearly 70 percent over a duration of 8 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 agencies are alerting of increased appetite in the months ahead.

“Only light rainfall is anticipated through June … and this is not anticipated to minimize drought in impacted areas of Kenya and Somalia,” said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its newest report.

“Well below-average crop production, bad animals body conditions, and increased local food prices are anticipated, which will decrease bad homes’ access to food.”

In Kitui’s Kyuso area, the signs are currently obvious.

Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the prolonged dry spell.

Villagers suffer travelling longer distances - often more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans searching for water.

Small-scale farmers, many of whom depend on rain-fed farming, go over strategies to offer their goats to make ends meet if the harvest is poor.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui’s farmers are worried.

A small but growing number are shedding their burden of dependence on the weather - and investing in watering systems powered by Zaynagro’s cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme introduced more than three 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 expenses beginning with 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.

The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free regular monthly instalments till the total 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 permitted him to water a larger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a range of vegetables including 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 plan as a significant advantage in helping enhance their output.

“The instalment plan is excellent. Most farmers do not have the cash and can not easily get a loan to buy 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 excellent which means we can pay off the cost of the pump slowly in little amounts, and have money left over to pay the school costs.”

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

But such biofuel plans are appealing since they develop a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for profit, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.

The simpleness of the design - easy-to-use, robust technology, assured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan - could assist electrify rural Africa, he said.

“There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options in the world. The essential problem is testing concepts and methods in a collective style,” stated Sanyal.

“Other cotton ginning factories in the region must try and learn from this experiment. Banks must start try out loans to groups of farmers. International donors and investors 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, females’s and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, residential or commercial property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)