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 told he might irrigate his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, easily 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!" chuckled Mathoka, bending down to check the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.
"But it works," he stated, walking over to a close-by tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has assisted me get greater yields, especially during drought durations."
Mathoka said his earnings had actually doubled in the two years he has actually 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 simply great news for him - it is likewise great news for the world.
Unlike a lot of biofuels, which are derived from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha, it is made from a byproduct of the cotton-making process.
That suggests that as well as being cleaner and cheaper than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels due to the fact that no extra land is needed 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 profitable crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food scarcities.
"Our biodiesel originates from squashing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the process of separating the seeds from raw cotton," stated Taher Zavery, managing director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based business 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 a few of their buses - and also to regional farmers for irrigation."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually up until now bought biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an initiative introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate modification is taking a toll throughout east Africa and progressively unpredictable weather is ending up being commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.
The recurring dry spells are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing millions of individuals in the Horn of Africa to the edge of extreme appetite.
The number of Kenyans in need of food help in March rose by practically 70 percent over a duration of eight months to 1.1 million, largely due to bad rains, according to government figures.
With practically half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a serious lack of rain, humanitarian companies are alerting of increased cravings in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is forecast through June ... and this is not anticipated to relieve dry spell in affected areas of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its latest report.
"Well below-average crop production, poor livestock body conditions, and increased local food costs are expected, which will reduce poor homes' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso location, the signs are already apparent.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the prolonged dry spell.
Villagers suffer trekking longer distances - sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys laden with empty jerry cans in search of water.
Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom depend on rain-fed agriculture, talk about plans to offer their goats to make ends satisfy if the harvest is bad.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are fretted.
A small but growing number are shedding their concern of reliance on the weather condition - and buying irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme released more than 3 years ago.
Neighbouring farmers band together to purchase the irrigation system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses beginning with 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.
The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month instalments till the overall 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 irrigate a bigger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a range 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 earn 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 plan as a major advantage in assisting enhance their output.
"The instalment scheme is excellent. Most farmers do not have the cash 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 scheme like this helps us a lot. Our yields are good which implies we can settle the cost of the pump gradually in little quantities, and have money left over to pay the school costs."
Zaynagro's effort is still in its early stages, with couple of farmers having paid back the full cost of the pumps.
But such biofuel schemes are promising since they produce 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 simplicity of the design - user friendly, robust innovation, ensured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan - might assist amaze rural Africa, he said.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options on the planet. The crucial problem is checking concepts and approaches in a collective style," stated Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the area must attempt and gain from this experiment. Banks should begin explore 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, residential or commercial property rights and environment modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)