mission-biofuels-sdn.-bhd

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 informed he might water his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, easily and efficiently using a pump fuelled by cotton waste.

"Who could believe it's possible to make a fuel better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" laughed Mathoka, bending down to examine the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri village in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.

"But it works," he said, strolling over to a neighboring tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has assisted me get higher yields, particularly throughout drought durations."

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

The biodiesel he is using is not just good news for him - it is likewise great news for the world.

Unlike the majority of biofuels, which are stemmed from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha, it is made from a byproduct of the cotton-making process.

That implies that as well as being cleaner and more affordable than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels due to the fact that 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 - exacerbating food shortages.

"Our biodiesel comes from crushing 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 started producing and using 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 local farmers for irrigation."

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have up until now purchased biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an initiative introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate change is taking a toll throughout east Africa and significantly erratic weather is becoming commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rains.

The repeating droughts are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing millions of individuals in the Horn of Africa to the edge of severe hunger.

The number of Kenyans in requirement of food help in March rose by practically 70 percent over a duration of eight months to 1.1 million, largely due to poor rains, according to government figures.

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

"Only light rainfall is anticipated through June ... and this is not expected to ease drought in affected locations of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its latest report.

"Well below-average crop production, bad animals body conditions, and increased local food prices are anticipated, which will decrease bad families' access to food."

In Kitui's Kyuso location, the indications are already obvious.

Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the prolonged drought.

Villagers experience 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 are dependent on rain-fed farming, talk about plans 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 however growing number are shedding their concern of dependence on the weather condition - and buying watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan introduced more than 3 years earlier.

Neighbouring farmers band together to buy the irrigation system - which consists of the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs beginning from 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.

The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free regular 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, stated the biodiesel pump permitted him to irrigate a bigger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety 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 earn 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 plan as a significant advantage in helping enhance their output.

"The instalment plan is excellent. 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 beside his blue biodiesel pump.

"Having a scheme like this helps us a lot. Our yields are great which implies we can pay off the expense of the pump slowly 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 actually paid back the full cost of the pumps.

But such biofuel schemes are promising because they create 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 technology, assured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go scheme - could assist electrify rural Africa, he stated.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options worldwide. The crucial concern is evaluating ideas and approaches in a collective fashion," said Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the area ought to attempt and find out from this experiment. Financial organizations need to begin experimenting 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, females's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, residential or commercial property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)