By Nita Bhalla
KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it must be a joke when he was told he could irrigate his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, cleanly and effectively 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!" laughed 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, walking over to a close-by tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get higher yields, specifically throughout drought durations."
Mathoka said his earnings had actually doubled in the 2 years he has actually been pumping water utilizing biodiesel, which is both more efficient and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre less expensive than routine diesel.
The biodiesel he is using is not simply good news for him - it is also great news for the planet.
Unlike most biofuels, which are derived from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha curcas, it is made from a byproduct of the cotton-making procedure.
That indicates that along with being cleaner and cheaper than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels since no extra land is needed to produce it.
From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has driven forest neighborhoods off their land and pressed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more successful crops-for-fuel - worsening food lacks.
"Our biodiesel originates from crushing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the procedure of separating the seeds from raw cotton," said Taher Zavery, managing director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based company producing the biodiesel.
"We began producing and utilizing it to power our cotton ginning factory in 2011. With increased production, we now utilize 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 actually so far purchased biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an effort released by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate modification is taking a toll across east Africa and progressively erratic weather is ending up being commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rainfall.
The recurring dry spells are ruining crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the verge of severe appetite.
The number of Kenyans in need of food aid in March surged by almost 70 percent over a period of 8 months to 1.1 million, mostly due to poor rains, according to government figures.
With nearly half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a serious shortage of rain, humanitarian agencies 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," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its most current report.
"Well below-average crop production, bad livestock body conditions, and increased regional food prices are anticipated, which will reduce poor households' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso location, the indications are already evident.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the prolonged dry spell.
Villagers suffer travelling longer distances - often more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans in search of water.
Small-scale farmers, many of whom are on rain-fed farming, talk about plans to sell their goats to make ends meet if the harvest is poor.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are fretted.
A small but growing number are shedding their burden of dependence on the weather condition - and buying watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan launched more than three years earlier.
Neighbouring farmers band together to purchase the watering system - which includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses beginning from 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.
The farmers make an initial 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 permitted him to water a bigger portion of his one-acre plot, where he grows a range 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 earn 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 advantage in helping improve their output.
"The instalment plan is great. Most farmers don't have the cash and can not easily get a loan to purchase 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 good which suggests we can settle the cost of the pump slowly in small quantities, and have cash left over to pay the school fees."
Zaynagro's effort is still in its early phases, with couple of farmers having paid back the full expense of the pumps.
But such biofuel plans are appealing because they develop a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for revenue, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.
The simpleness of the design - easy-to-use, robust innovation, assured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme - might assist amaze rural Africa, he said.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives in the world. The crucial issue is evaluating ideas and approaches in a collaborative fashion," said Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the area ought to attempt and find out from this experiment. Financial organizations must 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, ladies's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights and climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)
1
Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Combat Drought In Kenya
Amelie Breshears edited this page 2025-01-18 00:18:11 +00:00