Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Fight Drought In Kenya

By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka believed it needs to be a joke when he was told he could irrigate his drought-hit crops more cheaply, 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!” laughed 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, strolling over to a nearby tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. “Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get greater yields, particularly during drought periods.”

Mathoka stated his revenues had actually doubled in the two years he has actually been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre less expensive than regular diesel.

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

Unlike many biofuels, which are obtained 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 more affordable than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels because no additional land is required to produce it.

From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has actually driven forest neighborhoods off their land and pressed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more lucrative crops-for-fuel – worsening food scarcities.

“Our biodiesel originates from crushing 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 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 a few of their buses – and also to regional farmers for watering.”

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually up until now purchased 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 significantly irregular weather condition is becoming commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.

The recurring dry spells are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals – pressing countless individuals in the Horn of Africa to the edge of severe appetite.

The variety of Kenyans in need of food aid in March rose by nearly 70 percent over a period of 8 months to 1.1 million, mainly due to poor rains, according to government figures.

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

“Only light rainfall is forecast through June … and this is not expected to minimize drought 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 regional food costs are prepared for, which will decrease bad homes’ access to food.”

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

Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome 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 reliant on rain-fed agriculture, discuss plans to offer their goats to make ends satisfy if the harvest is poor.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui’s farmers are fretted.

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

Neighbouring farmers band together to invest in the watering system – which consists of the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel – at costs beginning with 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.

The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free regular monthly instalments until the overall is paid off. They the biodiesel to run the pumps from Zaynagro at 80 shillings a litre.

Farmer Alex Babu Kitheka, 39, stated the biodiesel pump allowed 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,” 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 helping enhance their output.

“The instalment scheme is good. Most farmers don’t have the cash 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 excellent which means we can settle the expense of the pump slowly in percentages, and have cash left over to pay the school charges.”

Zaynagro’s effort is still in its early stages, with few 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 profit, stated Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.

The simplicity of the model – easy-to-use, robust technology, guaranteed supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan – could assist amaze rural Africa, he stated.

“There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives in the world. The key problem is testing concepts and methods in a collective style,” said Sanyal.

“Other cotton ginning factories in the region should try and learn from this experiment. Banks must start try out 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, women’s and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, home rights and environment modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)