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 thought it should be a joke when he was informed he could irrigate his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, easily and effectively 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 check the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri town in Kenya’s southeast Kitui county.

“But it works,” he stated, strolling over to a neighboring tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. “Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually assisted me get higher yields, particularly during drought periods.”

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

The biodiesel he is using is not just great news for him – it is also great news for the world.

Unlike the majority of biofuels, which are stemmed from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha curcas, it is made from a byproduct of the cotton-making process.

That indicates that in addition to being cleaner and less expensive than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels due to the fact that no additional land is needed 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 profitable crops-for-fuel – worsening food shortages.

“Our biodiesel comes 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 using it to power our cotton ginning factory in 2011. With increased production, we now use 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 bought biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an initiative introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate modification is taking a toll across east Africa and significantly unpredictable weather is ending up being commonplace in nations 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 individuals in the Horn of Africa to the verge of extreme appetite.

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

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

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

“Well below-average crop production, poor animals body conditions, and increased regional food rates are prepared for, which will decrease bad households’ access to food.”

In Kitui’s Kyuso location, the signs are already evident.

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

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

Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom are dependent on rain-fed agriculture, discuss strategies to sell their goats to make ends meet 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 reliance on the weather – and purchasing watering systems powered by Zaynagro’s cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan released more than three years ago.

Neighbouring farmers unite to buy the irrigation system – which consists of the pump, 12 metres of pipes 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 monthly instalments till the overall 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 permitted him to irrigate a larger portion 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 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 indicate the plan as a significant benefit in helping improve their output.

“The instalment plan is good. Most farmers do not have the money and can not easily get a loan to purchase a pump like this,” stated 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 implies we can pay off the expense of the pump gradually in small 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 paid back the full cost of the pumps.

But such biofuel schemes are promising due to the fact that they create a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for earnings, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior associate for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.

The simpleness of the design – user friendly, robust innovation, guaranteed supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan – could assist energize rural Africa, he stated.

“There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options worldwide. The essential concern is checking ideas and methods in a collective style,” said Sanyal.

“Other cotton ginning factories in the region should attempt and discover from this experiment. Banks ought to begin explore loans to groups of farmers. International donors and investors 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, females’s and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, residential or commercial property rights and environment change. Visit http://news.trust.org)