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 should be a joke when he was informed he might water his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, easily and effectively 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 inspect the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri village 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 greater yields, specifically throughout drought durations.”

Mathoka said his earnings 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 less expensive than regular diesel.

The biodiesel he is utilizing is not simply good news for him – it is likewise great news for the planet.

Unlike most 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 procedure.

That means that as well as being cleaner and more affordable than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels since no additional land is required to produce it.

From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has driven forest neighborhoods off their land and pressed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more rewarding crops-for-fuel – worsening 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, managing director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based company producing 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, sell it to the United Nations to run some of their buses – and also to regional farmers for irrigation.”

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

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate modification is taking a toll throughout east Africa and significantly unpredictable weather condition is ending up being commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rains.

The recurring droughts are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals – pushing millions of individuals in the Horn of Africa to the brink of extreme hunger.

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

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

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

“Well below-average crop production, poor animals body conditions, and increased regional food prices are anticipated, which will minimize bad families’ access to food.”

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

Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the extended drought.

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

Small-scale farmers, most of whom are reliant on rain-fed agriculture, talk about strategies to sell their goats to make ends meet if the harvest is poor.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all farmers are stressed.

A little but growing number are shedding their burden of reliance on the weather – and buying irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro’s cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan released more than 3 years earlier.

Neighbouring farmers band together to invest in the irrigation system – which includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel – at costs starting from 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 settled. 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 water a larger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a range of vegetables 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,” said 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 benefit in assisting improve their output.

“The instalment plan is good. Most farmers don’t have the cash and can not easily get a loan to purchase 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 great which means we can pay off the cost of the pump slowly in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school charges.”

Zaynagro’s effort is still in its early stages, with couple of farmers having actually paid back the full cost of the pumps.

But such biofuel plans are appealing since they develop 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 model – user friendly, robust innovation, guaranteed supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go scheme – could assist amaze rural Africa, he said.

“There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices on the planet. The essential concern is evaluating concepts and approaches in a collaborative style,” said Sanyal.

“Other cotton ginning factories in the region ought to try and gain from this experiment. Financial organizations ought to begin exploring with 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, property rights and climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)