Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Combat Drought In Kenya

By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka believed it must be a joke when he was told he could irrigate his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, cleanly and efficiently using 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 inspect 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 big green pawpaw. “Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually assisted me get greater yields, particularly throughout drought durations.”

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

The biodiesel he is using is not just excellent news for him – it is likewise good news for the planet.

Unlike many biofuels, which are derived from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha curcas, it is made from a by-product 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 additional land is needed to produce it.

From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has driven forest communities off their land and pressed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more lucrative crops-for-fuel – intensifying food shortages.

“Our biodiesel comes from squashing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning – the procedure of separating the seeds from raw cotton,” stated Taher Zavery, handling 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 utilize it for our trucks, sell it to the United Nations to run a few of their buses – and also to regional farmers for irrigation.”

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually up until now invested in biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an effort introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate change is taking a toll across east Africa and increasingly erratic weather condition is ending up being commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rainfall.

The recurring dry spells are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals – pushing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the edge of extreme appetite.

The variety of Kenyans in requirement of food aid in March rose by almost 70 percent over a duration of eight months to 1.1 million, mainly due to bad rains, according to federal government figures.

With almost half Kenya’s 47 counties stated to have a serious scarcity of rain, humanitarian firms are cautioning of increased appetite in the months ahead.

“Only light rainfall is forecast through June … and this is not expected to alleviate drought 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 prices are prepared for, which will decrease bad homes’ access to food.”

In Kitui’s Kyuso location, the signs are currently apparent.

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

Villagers experience trekking longer ranges – sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys laden with empty jerry cans searching for water.

Small-scale farmers, many of whom depend 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 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 scheme released more than 3 years earlier.

Neighbouring farmers band together to buy the irrigation system – that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel – at costs beginning from 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.

The farmers make an initial 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, said the biodiesel pump allowed him to water a larger 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 3 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 indicate the plan as a major advantage in their output.

“The instalment plan is great. Most farmers do not have the cash 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 scheme like this helps us a lot. Our yields are great which indicates we can settle the cost of the pump slowly in little quantities, and have cash left over to pay the school costs.”

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

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

The simpleness of the model – user friendly, robust innovation, ensured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme – might assist amaze rural Africa, he said.

“There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives in the world. The crucial problem is checking concepts and techniques in a collective style,” said Sanyal.

“Other cotton ginning factories in the region need to try and discover from this experiment. Banks must start 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, property rights and environment change. Visit http://news.trust.org)