By Nita Bhalla
KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it must be a joke when he was told he might irrigate his drought-hit crops more cheaply, easily and efficiently utilizing a pump sustained by cotton waste.
"Who could believe 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 village in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.
"But it works," he said, strolling 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 during dry spell periods."
Mathoka said his earnings had doubled in the two years he has been pumping water utilizing biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre more affordable than regular diesel.
The biodiesel he is using is not simply great news for him - it is also great news for the planet.
Unlike many biofuels, which are derived 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 in addition to being cleaner and cheaper than regular 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 driven forest neighborhoods off their land and pushed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more rewarding crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food shortages.
"Our biodiesel comes from crushing 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 started 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 some of their buses - and also to local farmers for watering."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually so far invested in biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an initiative introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate modification is taking a toll throughout east Africa and significantly irregular weather condition is becoming commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rainfall.
The repeating droughts are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing millions of people in the Horn of Africa to the verge of extreme hunger.
The number of Kenyans in requirement of food aid in March surged by almost 70 percent over a period of eight months to 1.1 million, largely due to bad rains, according to government figures.
With practically half Kenya's 47 counties declared to have a severe shortage of rain, humanitarian agencies are cautioning of increased hunger in the months ahead.
"Only light rainfall is anticipated through June ... and this is not anticipated to alleviate drought in impacted locations of Kenya and Somalia," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its latest report.
"Well below-average crop production, poor livestock body conditions, and increased local food costs are expected, which will reduce poor homes' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso location, the signs are already apparent.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the extended dry spell.
Villagers suffer travelling longer distances - in some cases 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 agriculture, discuss strategies to offer their goats to make ends fulfill if the harvest is bad.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are fretted.
A small but growing number are shedding their burden of dependence on the weather - and purchasing watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan launched more than three years back.
Neighbouring farmers band together to buy the irrigation system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses starting from 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.
The farmers make a preliminary 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, stated the biodiesel pump enabled him to irrigate a bigger portion of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety of veggies including 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 village, 40 km (25 miles) from Kitui town.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Other farmers indicate the scheme as a significant benefit in assisting enhance their output.
"The instalment scheme is great. Most farmers don't have the money and can not easily 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 good which means we can settle the cost of the pump slowly in small amounts, and have cash left over to pay the school costs."
Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early stages, with few farmers having repaid the complete cost of the pumps.
But such biofuel plans are promising since they create a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for profit, stated Sanjoy Sanyal, senior associate 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 energize rural Africa, he stated.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices on the planet. The crucial issue is checking concepts and methods in a collaborative style," said Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the region need to try and find out from this experiment. Financial institutions need to 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, females's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, home rights and environment change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
