Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Eliminate Drought In Kenya

By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it needs to be a joke when he was told he might irrigate his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, cleanly and efficiently using a pump sustained by cotton waste.

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

Mathoka stated his revenues had doubled in the 2 years he has been pumping water utilizing 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 just good news for him – it is likewise good news for the planet.

Unlike many 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 as well as being cleaner and more affordable than fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels because 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 pushed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more profitable crops-for-fuel – intensifying food shortages.

“Our biodiesel originates from squashing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning – the procedure of separating the seeds from raw cotton,” said Taher Zavery, handling director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based business 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, offer it to the United Nations to run a few of their buses – and likewise to regional farmers for watering.”

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

DRY RIVER BEDS

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

The repeating dry spells are ruining 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 need of food help in March rose by almost 70 percent over a period of 8 months to 1.1 million, mostly due to bad rains, according to federal government figures.

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

“Only light rains is forecast 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 most current report.

“Well below-average crop production, poor livestock body conditions, and increased local food prices are prepared for, which will lower bad 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 drought.

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

Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom are reliant on rain-fed farming, discuss plans to offer their goats to make ends meet if the harvest is bad.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui’s farmers are stressed.

A little however 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 introduced more than three years ago.

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

The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free monthly instalments till the total 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 enabled him to irrigate a larger 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,” stated Alex Babu Kitheka, standing near his plot in Ilangilo village, 40 km (25 miles) from Kitui town.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Other farmers indicate the plan as a significant benefit in assisting improve their output.

“The instalment plan is good. 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 beside his blue biodiesel pump.

“Having a plan like this helps us a lot. Our yields are good which indicates we can pay off the expense of the pump slowly in percentages, and have cash left over to pay the school fees.”

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

But such biofuel plans are appealing because they produce a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for earnings, stated Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.

The simplicity of the model – user friendly, robust technology, guaranteed supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme – could help electrify rural Africa, he said.

“There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices on the planet. The crucial problem is testing concepts and approaches in a collective style,” stated Sanyal.

“Other cotton ginning factories in the area ought to try and gain from this experiment. Banks should 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, females’s and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, home rights and climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)