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 believed it should be a joke when he was informed he might water his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, cleanly and efficiently using a pump sustained by cotton waste.

“Who could think 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 stated, walking over to a neighboring tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. “Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has assisted me get greater yields, specifically during drought periods.”

Mathoka said his incomes 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 more affordable than routine diesel.

The biodiesel he is using is not just good news for him – it is also great news for the planet.

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

That suggests that in addition to being cleaner and cheaper than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels because no extra land is required 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 change from crops-for-food to more successful crops-for-fuel – worsening food shortages.

“Our biodiesel comes from crushing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning – the process 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 utilize it for our trucks, sell it to the United Nations to run some of their buses – and also to local farmers for irrigation.”

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

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate modification is taking a toll throughout east Africa and increasingly erratic weather condition is becoming 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 – pushing millions of people in the Horn of Africa to the brink of severe hunger.

The number of Kenyans in need of food aid in March rose by almost 70 percent over a period of eight months to 1.1 million, mostly due to poor rains, according to federal government figures.

With practically half Kenya’s 47 counties stated to have a serious shortage of rain, humanitarian companies are alerting of increased cravings in the months ahead.

“Only light rainfall is forecast through June … and this is not anticipated to alleviate dry spell in impacted locations of Kenya and Somalia,” said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its newest report.

“Well below-average crop production, bad livestock body conditions, and increased regional food costs are anticipated, which will lower bad families’ access to food.”

In Kitui’s Kyuso location, the indications are currently apparent.

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

Villagers suffer travelling longer distances – sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans in search of water.

Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom depend on rain-fed agriculture, go over strategies to offer their goats to make ends fulfill if the harvest is bad.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui’s farmers are stressed.

A small however growing number are shedding their burden of reliance on the weather – and purchasing watering systems powered by Zaynagro’s cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan launched more than 3 years ago.

Neighbouring farmers band together to purchase the irrigation system – that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel – at costs beginning from 32,000 shillings, depending upon 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, stated the biodiesel pump enabled him to water a larger portion of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety of vegetables consisting of maize, tomatoes, spinach and .

“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,” 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 scheme as a major benefit in assisting improve their output.

“The instalment scheme is good. Most farmers don’t have the cash 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 assists us a lot. Our yields are great which means we can pay off the expense of the pump slowly in small amounts, and have cash left over to pay the school charges.”

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

But such biofuel plans are appealing because 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 simplicity of the model – easy-to-use, robust innovation, guaranteed supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go scheme – might assist energize rural Africa, he stated.

“There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices in the world. The key problem is testing concepts and approaches in a collective fashion,” stated Sanyal.

“Other cotton ginning factories in the area need to try and discover from this experiment. Banks ought to begin try out 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 climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)