By Nita Bhalla
KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it needs to be a joke when he was told he might water his drought-hit crops more cheaply, easily and effectively utilizing a pump sustained 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, crouching down to check the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri village in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.
"But it works," he stated, walking over to a neighboring tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has assisted me get greater yields, specifically during drought periods."
Mathoka said his profits had doubled in the two years he has been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre cheaper than routine diesel.
The biodiesel he is using is not simply excellent news for him - it is also great news for the planet.
Unlike most 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 suggests that as well as being cleaner and less expensive 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 driven forest communities off their land and pressed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more successful crops-for-fuel - worsening food shortages.
"Our biodiesel originates from squashing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the process of separating the seeds from raw cotton," said Taher Zavery, handling director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based business producing the biodiesel.
"We started producing and using it to power our cotton ginning factory in 2011. With increased production, we now use it for our trucks, sell 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 actually so far purchased biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an effort introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate change is taking a toll across east Africa and progressively unpredictable weather condition is becoming commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rains.
The recurring droughts are ruining crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless individuals in the Horn of Africa to the edge of extreme appetite.
The number of Kenyans in requirement of food help in March surged by nearly 70 percent over a period of 8 months to 1.1 million, mainly due to bad rains, according to government figures.
With nearly half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a serious lack of rain, humanitarian agencies are cautioning of increased hunger in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is anticipated through June ... and this is not anticipated to reduce dry spell in affected areas of Kenya and Somalia," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its latest report.
"Well below-average crop production, bad animals body conditions, and increased local food rates are prepared for, which will reduce bad families' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso location, the signs are already evident.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the prolonged drought.
Villagers grumble of travelling longer distances - sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans looking for water.
Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom depend on rain-fed farming, 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 stressed.
A little but growing number are shedding their problem of reliance on the weather condition - and systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme released more than 3 years back.
Neighbouring farmers unite to purchase the irrigation system - which consists of the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs beginning with 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.
The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month 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 water a bigger part 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 3 months. With the biodiesel pump, I can earn 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 helping improve their output.
"The instalment plan is excellent. Most farmers don't have the cash and can not easily get a loan to purchase a pump like this," said Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood beside his blue biodiesel pump.
"Having a scheme like this assists us a lot. Our yields are great which means we can settle the expense of the pump gradually in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school fees."
Zaynagro's effort is still in its early stages, with couple of farmers having paid back the complete cost of the pumps.
But such biofuel schemes are appealing due to the fact that they develop a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for revenue, stated Sanjoy Sanyal, senior associate 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 - could help amaze rural Africa, he said.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options on the planet. The crucial issue is evaluating concepts and methods in a collective style," stated Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the area ought to try and learn from this experiment. Banks ought to begin explore loans to groups of farmers. International donors and financiers 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 change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
1
Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Fight Drought In Kenya
Freda Galleghan edited this page 2 days ago