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1 Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Fight Drought In Kenya

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 irrigate his drought-hit crops more cheaply, cleanly and efficiently utilizing a pump fuelled 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 village in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.

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

Mathoka said his earnings had actually doubled in the two years he has been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more efficient and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre cheaper than routine diesel.

The biodiesel he is utilizing is not simply excellent news for him - it is also good news for the planet.

Unlike many biofuels, which are stemmed from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha curcas, it is made from a by-product of the cotton-making procedure.

That means that along with being cleaner and less expensive than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels due to the fact that no additional land is needed 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 switch from crops-for-food to more successful crops-for-fuel - worsening food shortages.

"Our biodiesel originates from crushing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the procedure of separating the seeds from raw cotton," stated Taher Zavery, managing 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 a few of their buses - and also to regional farmers for watering."

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually so far bought biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an initiative introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate modification is taking a toll across east Africa and increasingly erratic 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 countless people in the Horn of Africa to the edge of extreme cravings.

The number of Kenyans in need of food aid in March rose by almost 70 percent over a period of 8 months to 1.1 million, mostly due to poor rains, according to government figures.

With almost half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a major scarcity of rain, humanitarian companies are cautioning of increased appetite in the months ahead.

"Only light rains is forecast through June ... and this is not anticipated to relieve drought 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 animals body conditions, and increased regional food prices are prepared for, which will reduce poor 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 extended dry spell.

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

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

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui's farmers are fretted.

A small however growing number are shedding their concern of dependence on the weather - and buying watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan introduced more than three years back.

Neighbouring farmers band together to purchase the watering system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs beginning with 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.

The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free monthly instalments up until the total is paid off. They buy 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 bigger part of his 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 village, 40 km (25 miles) from Kitui town.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Other farmers indicate the plan as a major benefit in helping enhance their output.

"The instalment plan is good. Most farmers do not have the cash and can not easily get a loan to buy a pump like this," said Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood next to his blue biodiesel pump.

"Having a plan like this assists us a lot. Our yields are good which indicates we can settle the cost of the pump gradually in small quantities, and have money left over to pay the school costs."

Zaynagro's effort is still in its early phases, with couple of farmers having actually repaid the full expense of the pumps.

But such biofuel schemes are appealing due to the fact that they produce a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for profit, stated Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner 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 assist electrify rural Africa, he said.

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

"Other cotton ginning factories in the area ought to attempt and gain from this experiment. Financial organizations ought to start 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, home rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)