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 thought it should be a joke when he was informed he could water his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, cleanly and efficiently utilizing 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 in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.


"But it works," he said, strolling over to a nearby tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually assisted me get greater yields, especially during drought durations."


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


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


Unlike a lot of 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 in addition to being cleaner and cheaper than routine 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 actually driven forest neighborhoods off their land and pressed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more lucrative crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food scarcities.


"Our biodiesel comes from crushing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the process of separating the seeds from raw cotton," stated Taher Zavery, managing director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based business 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, sell it to the United Nations to run a few of their buses - and likewise to regional farmers for watering."


More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have so far purchased biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an effort released by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.


DRY RIVER BEDS


Climate change is taking a toll across east Africa and significantly irregular weather condition is becoming commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rainfall.


The repeating droughts are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing millions of people in the Horn of Africa to the brink of severe hunger.


The number of Kenyans in requirement of food aid in March surged by nearly 70 percent over a period of eight months to 1.1 million, mainly due to bad rains, according to federal government figures.


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


"Only light rainfall is anticipated through June ... and this is not anticipated to alleviate drought in impacted areas of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its most current report.


"Well below-average crop production, bad livestock body conditions, and increased local food rates are anticipated, which will lower poor families' 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 prolonged drought.


Villagers suffer travelling longer ranges - in some cases more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans searching for water.


Small-scale farmers, many of whom are reliant on rain-fed agriculture, go over strategies to offer their goats to make ends satisfy 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 dependence on the weather - and purchasing irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme launched more than 3 years earlier.


Neighbouring farmers unite to purchase the irrigation system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses starting from 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.


The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month instalments until the total is paid off. 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 irrigate a bigger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety 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 make 45,000 shillings," stated 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 major benefit in assisting enhance their output.


"The instalment plan is excellent. Most farmers don't have the money and can not easily get a loan to purchase a pump like this," said Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood next to his blue biodiesel pump.


"Having a plan like this helps us a lot. Our yields are good which means we can settle the cost of the pump gradually in percentages, and have cash left over to pay the school fees."


Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early phases, with few farmers having paid back the complete expense of the pumps.


But such biofuel plans are appealing because they produce a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for revenue, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.


The simpleness of the model - user friendly, robust technology, guaranteed supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go plan - might help energize rural Africa, he stated.


"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives in the world. The essential concern is checking concepts and approaches in a collective fashion," stated Sanyal.


"Other cotton ginning factories in the area must try and gain from this experiment. Financial organizations need to begin explore 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, residential or commercial property rights and environment change. Visit http://news.trust.org)