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 could irrigate his drought-hit crops more cheaply, cleanly and efficiently utilizing 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, bending down to check 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 helped me get higher yields, particularly throughout dry spell durations."
Mathoka said his earnings had actually doubled in the two years he has actually been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre cheaper than regular diesel.
The biodiesel he is using is not just excellent news for him - it is also excellent news for the planet.
Unlike a lot of biofuels, which are derived from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha, it is made from a by-product of the cotton-making process.
That implies that as well as being cleaner and less expensive than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels due to the fact that no extra land is needed to it.
From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has driven forest communities off their land and pressed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more successful 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, handling director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based business 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, offer it to the United Nations to run a few of their buses - and likewise to local farmers for watering."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have so far purchased 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 throughout east Africa and increasingly irregular weather condition is becoming commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rains.
The recurring droughts are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing millions of people in the Horn of Africa to the verge of severe cravings.
The number 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 practically half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a serious lack of rain, humanitarian firms are alerting of increased appetite in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is forecast through June ... and this is not expected to reduce dry spell in impacted 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 rates are prepared for, which will minimize bad families' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso area, the signs are already evident.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the extended dry spell.
Villagers experience trekking longer distances - in some cases more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys laden with empty jerry cans looking for water.
Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom depend on rain-fed farming, discuss strategies to offer their goats to make ends fulfill if the harvest is poor.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are stressed.
A little but growing number are shedding their problem of dependence on the weather - and investing in irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme released more than 3 years ago.
Neighbouring farmers unite to invest in the watering system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses beginning from 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.
The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free regular monthly instalments till 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 enabled 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 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 point to the scheme as a significant advantage in assisting enhance their output.
"The instalment plan is good. Most farmers don't have the money and can not quickly get a loan to buy 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 great which suggests we can settle the expense of the pump gradually in small amounts, and have money left over to pay the school costs."
Zaynagro's effort is still in its early phases, with couple of farmers having paid back the complete expense 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 - easy-to-use, robust technology, guaranteed supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go plan - could assist amaze rural Africa, he stated.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives worldwide. The crucial issue is testing concepts and methods in a collective style," said Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the area ought to attempt and gain from this experiment. Financial organizations need to start experimenting with loans to groups of farmers. International donors and investors need 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 environment change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
1
Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Fight Drought In Kenya
Danielle Crick edited this page 2025-01-12 20:03:19 +08:00