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 needs to be a joke when he was told he might water his drought-hit crops more cheaply, easily and efficiently utilizing a pump sustained by cotton waste.

“Who could believe it’s possible to make a fuel much 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 actually helped me get higher yields, specifically during dry spell durations.”

Mathoka said his earnings had doubled in the two years he has actually 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 great news for him – it is also excellent news for the world.

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

That suggests that as well as being cleaner and less expensive 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 communities off their land and pushed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more rewarding crops-for-fuel – exacerbating food lacks.

“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, handling director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based company the biodiesel.

“We began producing and utilizing 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 likewise to local farmers for watering.”

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have up until now invested in biodiesel pumps for watering 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 irregular weather condition is becoming commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.

The repeating dry spells are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals – pressing millions of people in the Horn of Africa to the brink of extreme cravings.

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

With nearly half Kenya’s 47 counties declared to have a serious shortage of rain, humanitarian agencies are alerting of increased hunger in the months ahead.

“Only light rainfall is forecast through June … and this is not anticipated to ease 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 livestock body conditions, and increased local food costs are anticipated, which will decrease bad families’ access to food.”

In Kitui’s Kyuso area, the indications are already evident.

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

Villagers complain of travelling longer distances – often more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys laden with empty jerry cans searching for water.

Small-scale farmers, most of whom depend on rain-fed agriculture, go over plans to offer their goats to make ends fulfill if the harvest is bad.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui’s farmers are fretted.

A small however growing number are shedding their burden of dependence on the weather – and investing in watering systems powered by Zaynagro’s cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme introduced more than 3 years back.

Neighbouring farmers unite to buy 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 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 permitted him to irrigate a larger part of his one-acre 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 three months. With the biodiesel pump, I can earn 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 scheme as a significant advantage in assisting enhance their output.

“The instalment plan is good. Most farmers do not have the money and can not easily get a loan to buy a pump like this,” stated Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood beside his blue biodiesel pump.

“Having a plan like this helps us a lot. Our yields are good which indicates we can settle the expense of the pump slowly in percentages, and have cash left over to pay the school costs.”

Zaynagro’s initiative is still in its early phases, with few farmers having actually repaid the full expense of the pumps.

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

The simpleness of the design – easy-to-use, robust innovation, ensured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme – could assist energize rural Africa, he said.

“There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices in the world. The essential issue is evaluating ideas and methods in a collective style,” stated Sanyal.

“Other cotton ginning factories in the region need to try and find out from this experiment. Banks ought to begin try out 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, home rights and climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)