By Nita Bhalla
KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it must be a joke when he was informed he might irrigate his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, easily and effectively utilizing 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!" laughed 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 said, walking over to a close-by tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually assisted me get greater yields, particularly throughout dry spell periods."
Mathoka stated his earnings had actually doubled in the 2 years he has 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 utilizing is not simply excellent news for him - it is also excellent news for the world.
Unlike the majority of biofuels, which are obtained from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha, it is made from a byproduct of the cotton-making procedure.
That means that as well as being cleaner and cheaper than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels since no extra 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 rewarding crops-for-fuel - intensifying food shortages.
"Our biodiesel comes 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 began producing and using 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 a few of their buses - and also to local farmers for watering."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually up until now invested in biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an initiative introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate modification is taking a toll throughout east Africa and progressively irregular weather is ending up being commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.
The repeating droughts are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing millions of individuals in the Horn of Africa to the edge of severe appetite.
The variety of Kenyans in need of food help in March surged by practically 70 percent over a duration of eight months to 1.1 million, largely due to poor rains, according to government figures.
With nearly half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a serious lack of rain, humanitarian agencies are alerting of increased appetite in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is anticipated through June ... and this is not anticipated to alleviate dry spell in affected areas of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its most current report.
"Well below-average crop production, bad animals body conditions, and increased local food prices are anticipated, which will decrease bad households' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso area, the indications are already evident.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the extended dry spell.
Villagers experience trekking longer distances - sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys loaded with empty jerry cans looking for water.
Small-scale farmers, many of whom depend on rain-fed agriculture, discuss plans to offer their goats to make ends satisfy 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 problem of reliance on the weather condition - and investing in watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme launched more than 3 years earlier.
Neighbouring farmers band together to invest in the irrigation system - which includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of at costs beginning from 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.
The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month instalments up until the total is settled. They buy 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 bigger 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 3 months. With the biodiesel pump, I can earn 45,000 shillings," stated 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 major benefit in helping enhance their output.
"The instalment scheme is excellent. Most farmers don't have the cash and can not easily get a loan to purchase 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 good which suggests we can pay off the expense of the pump gradually in percentages, and have cash left over to pay the school charges."
Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early phases, with couple of farmers having repaid the full expense of the pumps.
But such biofuel schemes are appealing since they produce a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for revenue, stated Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.
The simpleness of the model - easy-to-use, robust technology, assured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go scheme - could help energize rural Africa, he said.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options on the planet. The crucial problem is testing ideas and techniques in a collaborative style," said Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the region should try and gain from this experiment. Banks ought to begin exploring with 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, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, residential or commercial property rights and climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)
1
Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Eliminate Drought In Kenya
Alex Free edited this page 3 months ago