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 could water his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, cleanly and efficiently using a pump sustained 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 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, strolling over to a neighboring tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has assisted me get greater yields, specifically during drought periods."
Mathoka said his incomes had actually doubled in the two years he has been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre less expensive than regular diesel.
The biodiesel he is utilizing is not just excellent news for him - it is likewise excellent news for the planet.
Unlike the majority of biofuels, which are originated from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha, it is made from a by-product of the cotton-making procedure.
That indicates that as well as being cleaner and more affordable than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels because no additional land is required 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 profitable crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food lacks.
"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, of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based business producing the biodiesel.
"We began 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 local farmers for irrigation."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have so far invested in biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an initiative launched by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate change is taking a toll across east Africa and progressively irregular weather condition is becoming commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.
The repeating droughts are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing millions of individuals in the Horn of Africa to the brink of severe cravings.
The variety of Kenyans in need of food aid in March rose by practically 70 percent over a period of eight months to 1.1 million, largely due to poor rains, according to federal government figures.
With almost half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a major lack of rain, humanitarian firms are warning of increased cravings in the months ahead.
"Only light rainfall is forecast through June ... and this is not anticipated to alleviate drought in affected areas of Kenya and Somalia," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its most current report.
"Well below-average crop production, bad animals body conditions, and increased regional food rates are prepared for, which will lower bad households' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso area, the indications are already apparent.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the prolonged dry spell.
Villagers complain of travelling longer ranges - often more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans in search of water.
Small-scale farmers, many of whom depend on rain-fed farming, discuss strategies to sell their goats to make ends meet if the harvest is poor.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are stressed.
A small but growing number are shedding their concern of reliance on the weather condition - and buying irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan introduced more than 3 years ago.
Neighbouring farmers band together to purchase the watering system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs beginning with 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.
The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free monthly instalments till the total is settled. They buy the biodiesel to run the pumps from Zaynagro at 80 shillings a litre.
Farmer Alex Babu Kitheka, 39, stated the biodiesel pump permitted him to irrigate a larger portion of his one-acre plot, where he grows a range of vegetables 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," said 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 benefit in helping improve their output.
"The instalment plan is good. Most farmers don't have the cash and can not quickly get a loan to purchase a pump like this," said 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 implies we can settle the cost of the pump gradually in percentages, and have cash left over to pay the school costs."
Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early stages, with few farmers having actually repaid the full cost of the pumps.
But such biofuel schemes are promising due to the fact that they develop a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for earnings, stated Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.
The simpleness of the model - user friendly, robust innovation, assured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go plan - might help amaze rural Africa, he stated.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options worldwide. The essential concern is evaluating concepts and techniques in a collective fashion," said Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the region must try and discover from this experiment. Banks must begin exploring with 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, 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
Colby Burg edited this page 3 months ago