1 Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Fight Drought In Kenya

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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 could water his drought-hit crops more cheaply, easily and efficiently 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!" chuckled Mathoka, bending down to inspect the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri town in 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 greater yields, specifically throughout dry spell durations."

Mathoka said his incomes had actually doubled in the 2 years he has been pumping water utilizing biodiesel, which is both more efficient and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre more affordable than regular diesel.

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

Unlike most 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 more affordable than routine 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 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 squashing 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 utilizing 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 a few 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 effort introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate change is taking a toll throughout east Africa and progressively unpredictable weather condition is becoming commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.

The recurring dry spells are ruining crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing millions of people in the Horn of Africa to the edge of severe appetite.

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

With nearly half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a major shortage of rain, humanitarian firms are alerting of increased hunger in the months ahead.

"Only light rains is forecast through June ... and this is not expected to relieve dry spell in affected locations of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its most current report.

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

In Kitui's Kyuso area, the indications are currently evident.

Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the extended dry spell.

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

Small-scale farmers, many of whom depend on rain-fed farming, discuss strategies to offer their goats to make ends fulfill if the harvest is poor.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui's farmers are fretted.

A small but growing number are shedding their burden of reliance on the weather - and investing in irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan introduced more than 3 years back.

Neighbouring farmers band together to buy 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 an initial payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month instalments until the overall is settled. They purchase the biodiesel to run the pumps from Zaynagro at 80 shillings a litre.

Farmer Alex Babu Kitheka, 39, said the biodiesel pump allowed him to water a larger part 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 three 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 plan as a major benefit in helping improve their output.

"The instalment scheme is great. Most farmers do not have the money and can not easily get a loan to buy 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 good which implies we can settle the cost of the pump slowly 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 repaid 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, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior associate for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.

The simpleness of the design - user friendly, robust innovation, assured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme - might help electrify rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices on the planet. The essential problem is testing concepts and techniques in a collaborative style," stated Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the area should attempt and gain from this experiment. Banks should start experimenting with 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, ladies's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, home rights and climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)