Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Eliminate Drought In Kenya
Chu Macfarlane edited this page 1 week ago


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 told he might irrigate his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, cleanly and effectively utilizing a pump sustained 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 said, strolling over to a nearby tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get higher yields, especially during drought durations."

Mathoka said his revenues had actually 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 utilizing is not simply great news for him - it is also great news for the world.

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

That means that in addition to being cleaner and less expensive than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels since no additional 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 pushed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more rewarding crops-for-fuel - worsening food lacks.

"Our biodiesel originates from squashing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the process of separating the seeds from raw cotton," stated Taher Zavery, managing director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based business 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 irrigation."

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually up until now bought biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an effort released by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate change is taking a toll across east Africa and increasingly unpredictable weather is ending up being commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rainfall.

The recurring droughts are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing millions of people in the Horn of Africa to the edge of extreme cravings.

The number of Kenyans in requirement of food help in March surged by almost 70 percent over a duration of 8 months to 1.1 million, largely due to poor rains, according to federal government figures.

With nearly half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a serious scarcity of rain, humanitarian companies are cautioning of increased appetite in the months ahead.

"Only light rains is forecast through June ... and this is not anticipated to ease dry spell in affected locations of Kenya and Somalia," stated 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 decrease poor homes' access to food."

In Kitui's Kyuso location, the signs are already evident.

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

Villagers experience trekking longer ranges - in some cases more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans searching for water.

Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom are on rain-fed farming, go over strategies to offer their goats to make ends meet if the harvest is poor.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui's farmers are stressed.

A small however growing number are shedding their concern of dependence on the weather condition - and buying watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme introduced more than three years ago.

Neighbouring farmers unite to buy the watering system - which consists of the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses starting from 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.

The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month 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 allowed him to irrigate a bigger part 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 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 plan as a significant benefit in assisting improve their output.

"The instalment plan is excellent. Most farmers do not 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 excellent which suggests we can settle the cost of the pump gradually in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school costs."

Zaynagro's effort is still in its early stages, with few farmers having repaid the full expense of the pumps.

But such biofuel schemes are appealing because they develop 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 simpleness of the design - user friendly, robust innovation, assured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan - could help amaze rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options on the planet. The essential issue is evaluating concepts and methods in a collaborative fashion," said Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the region need to attempt and gain from this experiment. Financial institutions ought to begin explore loans to groups of farmers. International donors and investors 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, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, residential or commercial property rights and climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)