By Nita Bhalla
KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie thought it must be a joke when he was informed he might water his drought-hit crops more cheaply, cleanly and efficiently using a pump fuelled 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 inspect the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri town in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.
"But it works," he said, walking over to a neighboring tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually helped me get higher yields, especially throughout drought durations."
Mathoka said his revenues had doubled in the 2 years he has actually been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre less expensive than routine diesel.
The biodiesel he is using is not simply excellent news for him - it is also 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 byproduct of the cotton-making process.
That suggests that along with being cleaner and cheaper than routine 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 actually driven forest communities off their land and pressed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more successful crops-for-fuel - worsening food lacks.
"Our biodiesel comes from squashing 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 business producing the biodiesel.
"We started producing and utilizing it to power our cotton ginning factory in 2011. With increased production, we now use it for our trucks, offer 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 up until now invested in 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 across east Africa and significantly unpredictable weather is becoming commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rainfall.
The repeating droughts are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless individuals in the Horn of Africa to the edge of severe appetite.
The variety of Kenyans in requirement of food aid in March rose by nearly 70 percent over a period of 8 months to 1.1 million, largely due to poor rains, according to government figures.
With nearly half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a serious shortage of rain, humanitarian firms are alerting of increased appetite in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is anticipated through June ... and this is not expected to minimize drought in impacted areas of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its most current report.
"Well below-average crop production, poor animals body conditions, and increased local food prices are expected, which will minimize bad families' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso area, the signs are already apparent.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the prolonged drought.
Villagers suffer travelling longer ranges - sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans in search of water.
Small-scale farmers, most of whom are dependent on rain-fed agriculture, talk about plans 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 however growing number are shedding their concern of dependence on the weather - and purchasing watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme launched more than 3 years ago.
Neighbouring farmers band together to invest in the irrigation system - which consists of 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 an initial payment, then pay interest-free regular monthly instalments up until the overall 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 enabled him to irrigate a bigger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety 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 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 plan 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 next to his blue biodiesel pump.
"Having a plan like this helps us a lot. Our yields are great which indicates we can settle the cost of the pump slowly in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school costs."
Zaynagro's effort is still in its early phases, with couple of farmers having repaid the complete expense of the pumps.
But such biofuel plans are appealing since 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 simplicity of the model - user friendly, robust technology, ensured 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 alternatives on the planet. The essential concern is evaluating concepts and methods in a collective style," said Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the region need to try and find out from this experiment. Banks should start explore 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, ladies's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, home rights and environment modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Eliminate Drought In Kenya
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