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 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 much better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn’t!” laughed 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, strolling over to a nearby tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. “Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has assisted me get higher yields, particularly during drought periods.”

Mathoka said his revenues had doubled in the two years he has been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more efficient and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre cheaper than regular diesel.

The biodiesel he is utilizing is not just excellent news for him - it is likewise great news for the world.

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

That suggests that as well as being cleaner and cheaper than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels because 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 profitable crops-for-fuel - worsening food scarcities.

“Our biodiesel originates from crushing 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 company 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, offer it to the United Nations to run a few of their buses - and likewise 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 effort launched by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate modification is taking a toll across east Africa and significantly irregular weather condition is becoming commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rainfall.

The repeating droughts are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing millions of people in the Horn of Africa to the brink of extreme hunger.

The variety of Kenyans in need of food help in March rose by practically 70 percent over a period of eight months to 1.1 million, mostly due to poor rains, according to government figures.

With practically half Kenya’s 47 counties declared to have a severe shortage of rain, humanitarian companies are warning of increased cravings in the months ahead.

“Only light rains is anticipated through June … and this is not expected to alleviate 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, poor animals body conditions, and increased regional food rates are prepared for, which will decrease poor families’ access to food.”

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

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

Villagers suffer trekking longer distances - in some cases more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys laden with empty jerry cans searching for water.

Small-scale farmers, many of whom are dependent on rain-fed agriculture, talk about plans to sell their goats to make ends fulfill if the harvest is bad.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui’s farmers are stressed.

A small however growing number are shedding their burden of reliance on the weather condition - and investing in watering systems powered by Zaynagro’s cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan launched more than three years back.

Neighbouring farmers unite to buy the irrigation system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs 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 until the overall is paid off. They buy 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 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 3 months. With the biodiesel pump, I can make 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 significant advantage in assisting improve their output.

“The instalment plan is great. Most farmers do not have the cash and can not easily get a loan to buy a pump like this,” stated 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 implies we can pay off the expense of the pump slowly in percentages, and have cash left over to pay the school charges.”

Zaynagro’s initiative is still in its early stages, with few farmers having actually repaid the full expense of the pumps.

But such biofuel plans are promising due to the fact that they create 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 - easy-to-use, robust innovation, ensured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go scheme - might help amaze rural Africa, he said.

“There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices worldwide. The crucial problem is checking concepts and methods in a collective style,” said Sanyal.

“Other cotton ginning factories in the area must attempt and gain from this experiment. Financial institutions ought to start experimenting with loans to groups of farmers. International donors and investors 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, home rights and change. Visit http://news.trust.org)