GitLab

By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka believed it needs to 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 think it's possible to make a fuel better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" laughed Mathoka, crouching down to check the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri town in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.

"But it works," he stated, walking over to a nearby tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has assisted me get higher yields, specifically throughout dry spell durations."

Mathoka stated his profits had actually 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 just great news for him - it is also good news for the planet.

Unlike many 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 implies that along with being cleaner and less expensive than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels since 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 pushed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more successful crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food scarcities.

"Our biodiesel originates from crushing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the procedure of separating the seeds from raw cotton," said Taher Zavery, managing director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based company producing the biodiesel.

"We began 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 also to local farmers for irrigation."

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually up until now invested in biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an effort introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate change is taking a toll throughout east Africa and significantly irregular weather is ending up being in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rainfall.

The repeating dry spells are ruining crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing millions of people in the Horn of Africa to the edge of extreme hunger.

The number of Kenyans in need 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 government figures.

With practically half Kenya's 47 counties declared to have a serious scarcity of rain, humanitarian agencies are warning of increased hunger in the months ahead.

"Only light rainfall is anticipated through June ... and this is not anticipated to relieve drought in impacted locations of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its newest report.

"Well below-average crop production, poor livestock body conditions, and increased regional food rates are expected, which will minimize poor homes' access to food."

In Kitui's Kyuso location, the indications are already evident.

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

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

Small-scale farmers, most of whom depend on rain-fed agriculture, go over strategies 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 small however growing number are shedding their concern of reliance on the weather condition - and investing in 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 - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes 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 month-to-month 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 permitted him to water a larger portion of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety 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 three months. With the biodiesel pump, I can make 45,000 shillings," said Alex Babu Kitheka, standing near his plot in Ilangilo town, 40 km (25 miles) from Kitui town.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Other farmers indicate the scheme as a major benefit in assisting improve their output.

"The instalment scheme is excellent. Most farmers don't have the money 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 scheme like this helps us a lot. Our yields are great which indicates we can settle the cost of the pump slowly in small amounts, and have money left over to pay the school fees."

Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early phases, with couple of farmers having actually paid back the complete expense of the pumps.

But such biofuel plans are appealing since they produce a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for earnings, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior associate for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.

The simpleness of the model - easy-to-use, robust technology, ensured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme - could help electrify rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives worldwide. The key concern is evaluating concepts and methods in a collective fashion," stated Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the region must try and learn from this experiment. Banks need to begin try out 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, property rights and environment change. Visit http://news.trust.org)