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 needs to be a joke when he was informed he might water his drought-hit crops more cheaply, easily and effectively using a pump fuelled by cotton waste.

“Who could think it’s possible to make a fuel better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn’t!” chuckled Mathoka, bending 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, walking over to a nearby tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. “Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has assisted me get higher yields, specifically throughout drought periods.”

Mathoka said his profits had doubled in the 2 years he has been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more efficient and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre less expensive than regular diesel.

The biodiesel he is utilizing is not simply great 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 procedure.

That suggests that as well as being cleaner and less expensive than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels since 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 pushed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more lucrative crops-for-fuel – worsening food lacks.

“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, handling director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based company 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 some of their buses – and also to regional farmers for watering.”

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

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate modification is taking a toll throughout east Africa and significantly unpredictable weather condition is becoming commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rainfall.

The recurring droughts are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals – pressing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the edge of extreme hunger.

The variety of Kenyans in need of food help in March surged by practically 70 percent over a duration of 8 months to 1.1 million, largely 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 alerting of increased cravings in the months ahead.

“Only light rainfall is anticipated through June … and this is not anticipated to relieve drought in affected locations of Kenya and Somalia,” said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its most current report.

“Well below-average crop production, bad animals body conditions, and increased local food costs are prepared for, which will minimize poor homes’ access to food.”

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

Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the prolonged dry spell.

Villagers suffer travelling longer ranges – sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys loaded with empty jerry cans looking for water.

Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom depend on rain-fed farming, talk about 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 worried.

A little but growing number are shedding their problem of reliance on the weather condition – and purchasing watering systems powered by Zaynagro’s cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme more than three years earlier.

Neighbouring farmers unite to buy the irrigation system – which consists of the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel – at costs beginning with 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.

The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free regular monthly instalments till 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 allowed him to irrigate a bigger portion 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 3 months. With the biodiesel pump, I can make 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 point to the scheme as a major advantage in helping improve their output.

“The instalment scheme is excellent. Most farmers don’t have the money and can not quickly get a loan to purchase a pump like this,” stated Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood beside his blue biodiesel pump.

“Having a scheme like this assists us a lot. Our yields are excellent which suggests we can pay off the expense of the pump slowly in little quantities, and have money left over to pay the school charges.”

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

But such biofuel schemes are promising since 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, guaranteed supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme – could help electrify rural Africa, he stated.

“There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives on the planet. The key concern is evaluating ideas and methods in a collaborative style,” said Sanyal.

“Other cotton ginning factories in the area must attempt and gain 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, women’s and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, home rights and climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)