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 his drought-hit crops more cheaply, cleanly and effectively using 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!" 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 neighboring tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has assisted me get higher yields, particularly during dry spell periods."
Mathoka stated his incomes had actually 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 cheaper than regular diesel.
The biodiesel he is utilizing is not simply good news for him - it is likewise good news for the world.
Unlike a lot of biofuels, which are obtained from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha curcas, it is made from a byproduct of the cotton-making procedure.
That means that as well as being cleaner and less expensive than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels because no extra land is needed 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 lucrative crops-for-fuel - intensifying 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 business producing the biodiesel.
"We started 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 some of their buses - and likewise to regional farmers for irrigation."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have so far purchased biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an effort launched by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate change is taking a toll throughout east Africa and progressively irregular weather condition is ending up being commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rainfall.
The recurring dry spells are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the verge of severe hunger.
The number of Kenyans in need of food help in March surged by almost 70 percent over a duration of 8 months to 1.1 million, largely due to bad rains, according to federal government figures.
With almost half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a major lack of rain, humanitarian companies are alerting of increased cravings in the months ahead.
"Only light rainfall is forecast through June ... and this is not anticipated to reduce drought in impacted locations of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its most current report.
"Well below-average crop production, bad livestock body conditions, and increased regional food costs are anticipated, which will minimize poor families' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso area, the signs are already obvious.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the prolonged drought.
Villagers experience travelling longer ranges - sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys laden with empty jerry cans searching for water.
Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom are dependent on rain-fed agriculture, go over 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 condition - and purchasing irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme launched more than three years ago.
Neighbouring farmers band together to invest in the watering system - which includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses starting from 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.
The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free regular monthly instalments up until the overall is paid off. They purchase the biodiesel to run the pumps from Zaynagro at 80 shillings a litre.
Farmer Alex Babu Kitheka, 39, said the biodiesel pump enabled him to irrigate a larger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a range 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 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 point to the scheme as a significant advantage in helping enhance their output.
"The instalment scheme is great. Most farmers do not have the cash and can not easily get a loan to purchase a pump like this," stated Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood beside his blue biodiesel pump.
"Having a plan like this helps us a lot. Our yields are great which indicates we can pay off the expense of the pump slowly in percentages, and have cash left over to pay the school fees."
Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early stages, with couple of farmers having paid back the full expense of the pumps.
But such biofuel plans are appealing because 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 design - user friendly, robust innovation, guaranteed supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme - might assist energize rural Africa, he stated.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options on the planet. The crucial concern is testing concepts and approaches in a collective style," stated Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the area ought to attempt and discover from this experiment. Financial organizations must start explore 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, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights and climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Combat Drought In Kenya
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