By Nita Bhalla
KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka believed it must be a joke when he was informed he might water his drought-hit crops more cheaply, cleanly and effectively utilizing 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 examine the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri town in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.
"But it works," he said, strolling over to a close-by tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get higher yields, particularly during dry spell periods."
Mathoka said his incomes had doubled in the 2 years he has actually been pumping water utilizing biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre less expensive than routine diesel.
The biodiesel he is using is not simply excellent news for him - it is likewise good news for the planet.
Unlike a lot of biofuels, which are stemmed from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha curcas, it is made from a by-product of the cotton-making procedure.
That suggests that as well as being cleaner and more affordable than regular 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 actually driven forest neighborhoods off their land and pushed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more profitable crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food shortages.
"Our biodiesel originates 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 use it for our trucks, sell it to the United Nations to run some of their buses - and likewise to regional farmers for irrigation."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually up until now purchased biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an effort introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate change is taking a toll throughout east Africa and progressively unpredictable weather is ending up being commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.
The repeating dry spells are destroying crops and pastures and are - pressing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the brink of severe appetite.
The number of Kenyans in requirement of food aid in March surged by nearly 70 percent over a period of eight months to 1.1 million, mostly due to poor rains, according to federal government figures.
With almost half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a serious lack of rain, humanitarian firms are warning of increased appetite in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is anticipated through June ... and this is not anticipated to relieve dry spell in affected locations of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its latest report.
"Well below-average crop production, bad livestock body conditions, and increased local food rates are anticipated, which will decrease poor families' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso area, the signs are currently apparent.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the prolonged drought.
Villagers experience trekking longer ranges - 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 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 stressed.
A small however growing number are shedding their problem of dependence on the weather - and investing in watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan released more than three years back.
Neighbouring farmers band together to invest in the irrigation system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes 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 until the overall is paid off. They purchase 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 portion of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety of veggies 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," 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 significant advantage in helping enhance their output.
"The instalment plan is great. Most farmers don't have the money and can not easily get a loan to purchase 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 great which implies we can pay off the expense of the pump slowly in little quantities, and have money left over to pay the school charges."
Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early phases, with couple of farmers having actually paid back the complete expense of the pumps.
But such biofuel schemes are appealing because they create a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for revenue, stated Sanjoy Sanyal, senior associate for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.
The simpleness of the design - user friendly, robust innovation, assured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan - might help electrify rural Africa, he stated.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices worldwide. The crucial concern is evaluating concepts and methods in a collaborative fashion," stated Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the region should attempt and gain from this experiment. Banks ought to start 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, ladies's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, residential or commercial property rights and environment change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Fight Drought In Kenya
Anja Gregory edited this page 2025-01-11 23:58:25 +00:00