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 effectively utilizing a pump fuelled 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, crouching down to inspect the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri town in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.
"But it works," he said, strolling over to a close-by tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get greater yields, specifically throughout drought periods."
Mathoka said his revenues had actually doubled in the two years he has actually been pumping water utilizing biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre cheaper than diesel.
The biodiesel he is utilizing is not just good news for him - it is also excellent news for the planet.
Unlike most biofuels, which are stemmed from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha, it is made from a by-product of the cotton-making procedure.
That means that in addition to being cleaner and less expensive than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels because no extra 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 pushed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more lucrative crops-for-fuel - intensifying 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, managing 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, 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 bought biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an effort released 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 countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rains.
The recurring dry spells are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing millions of people in the Horn of Africa to the verge of severe hunger.
The variety of Kenyans in requirement of food help in March surged by almost 70 percent over a period of 8 months to 1.1 million, mostly due to bad rains, according to federal government figures.
With almost half Kenya's 47 counties declared to have a severe shortage of rain, humanitarian firms are warning of increased appetite in the months ahead.
"Only light rainfall is anticipated through June ... and this is not anticipated to ease dry spell in impacted locations of Kenya and Somalia," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its latest report.
"Well below-average crop production, poor animals body conditions, and increased local food prices are anticipated, which will reduce poor households' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso area, the signs are already apparent.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the prolonged dry spell.
Villagers suffer trekking longer distances - in some cases more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys loaded with empty jerry cans searching for water.
Small-scale farmers, many of whom depend on rain-fed farming, talk about plans to sell their goats to make ends meet if the harvest is bad.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are worried.
A little however growing number are shedding their concern of dependence on the weather - and purchasing watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan introduced more than 3 years earlier.
Neighbouring farmers unite to invest in the irrigation system - which consists of the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses beginning with 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.
The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month instalments till the total is settled. They purchase the biodiesel to run the pumps from Zaynagro at 80 shillings a litre.
Farmer Alex Babu Kitheka, 39, stated the biodiesel pump allowed him to water a larger portion of his one-acre plot, where he grows a range of vegetables 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 indicate the scheme as a significant benefit in helping enhance their output.
"The instalment scheme is good. Most farmers don't have the money and can not quickly 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 excellent which implies we can pay off the expense of the pump slowly in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school costs."
Zaynagro's effort is still in its early phases, with couple of farmers having repaid the complete cost of the pumps.
But such biofuel plans are promising since they develop 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, guaranteed supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme - could help amaze rural Africa, he stated.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices worldwide. The crucial issue is checking ideas and methods in a collective fashion," stated Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the region ought to try and learn from this experiment. Banks must 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, ladies's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, residential or commercial property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Fight Drought In Kenya
Marla Zielinski edited this page 2025-01-17 21:46:53 +01:00