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 needs to be a joke when he was informed he might irrigate his drought-hit crops more cheaply, cleanly and effectively using a pump fuelled 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, crouching down to inspect the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri town in Kenya’s southeast Kitui county.

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

Mathoka said his profits had doubled in the 2 years he has been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre more affordable than routine diesel.

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

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

That means that as well as being cleaner and less expensive than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels because no extra land is needed to produce it.

From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has actually driven forest communities off their land and pressed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more profitable crops-for-fuel – intensifying food lacks.

“Our biodiesel comes from crushing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning – the process of separating the seeds from raw cotton,” said Taher Zavery, managing 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 utilize 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 actually so far bought biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an effort launched by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

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

The recurring droughts are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals – pressing millions of individuals in the Horn of Africa to the verge of severe cravings.

The number of Kenyans in requirement of food help in March surged by nearly 70 percent over a duration of eight months to 1.1 million, mainly due to poor rains, according to federal government figures.

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

“Only light rainfall is anticipated through June … and this is not anticipated to minimize drought in affected areas 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 local food rates are prepared for, which will minimize poor households’ access to food.”

In Kitui’s Kyuso area, the signs are currently evident.

Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the prolonged dry spell.

Villagers experience travelling longer distances – often more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans looking for water.

Small-scale farmers, most of whom are dependent on rain-fed agriculture, discuss plans to sell their goats to make ends fulfill if the harvest is bad.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui’s farmers are fretted.

A little but growing number are shedding their concern of reliance on the weather – and buying watering systems powered by Zaynagro’s cotton through a pay-as-you-go scheme released more than three years earlier.

Neighbouring farmers band together to purchase the watering system – which 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 a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free monthly instalments till the total is settled. 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 water a larger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety 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 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 scheme as a major advantage 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 purchase a pump like this,” stated Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood beside his blue biodiesel pump.

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

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

But such biofuel schemes are appealing since they produce a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for profit, stated Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner 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 scheme – could help amaze rural Africa, he stated.

“There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives on the planet. The crucial problem is evaluating ideas and techniques in a collective style,” stated Sanyal.

“Other cotton ginning factories in the area ought to try and gain from this experiment. Financial organizations should start exploring 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 modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)