By Nita Bhalla
KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka believed it must be a joke when he was informed he might water his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, 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, crouching 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, strolling over to a close-by tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has assisted me get higher yields, particularly throughout dry spell durations."
Mathoka stated his revenues 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 less expensive than routine diesel.
The biodiesel he is using is not simply great news for him - it is likewise great news for the planet.
Unlike a lot of biofuels, which are obtained from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha curcas, it is made from a by-product of the cotton-making procedure.
That suggests that along with being cleaner and cheaper than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels due to the fact that no additional 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 change from crops-for-food to more lucrative crops-for-fuel - intensifying food lacks.
"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, handling director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based company producing the biodiesel.
"We started producing and utilizing 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 some of their buses - and likewise to local farmers for watering."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have up until now bought biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an effort released by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate change is taking a toll throughout east Africa and progressively erratic weather condition is ending up being commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rains.
The repeating dry spells are ruining crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the verge of extreme cravings.
The number of Kenyans in requirement of food aid in March rose by practically 70 percent over a period 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 severe scarcity of rain, humanitarian companies are cautioning of increased cravings in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is forecast through June ... and this is not anticipated to reduce dry spell in affected locations of Kenya and Somalia," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its newest report.
"Well below-average crop production, poor animals body conditions, and increased local food prices are prepared for, which will lower bad households' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso location, the indications are currently obvious.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the prolonged drought.
Villagers suffer travelling longer ranges - in some cases more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys loaded with empty jerry cans searching for water.
Small-scale farmers, many of whom depend on rain-fed agriculture, discuss strategies to offer their goats to make ends satisfy if the harvest is bad.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are stressed.
A little however growing number are shedding their burden of reliance on the weather - and buying watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme launched more than 3 years earlier.
Neighbouring farmers unite to invest in the watering system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses beginning with 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 total 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 bigger portion of his one-acre plot, where he grows a range of veggies 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 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 plan as a significant benefit in helping enhance their output.
"The instalment scheme is good. Most farmers don't 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 scheme like this assists us a lot. Our yields are excellent which suggests we can pay off the cost of the pump gradually in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school fees."
Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early stages, with few farmers having repaid the complete cost of the pumps.
But such biofuel schemes are promising because they develop 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 simplicity of the design - user friendly, robust innovation, guaranteed supply of with a pay-as-you-go scheme - might help electrify rural Africa, he stated.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options in the world. The key issue is evaluating ideas and approaches in a collective style," said Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the area need to attempt and gain from this experiment. Financial institutions ought to begin explore 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, property 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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