By Nita Bhalla
KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka believed it should be a joke when he was told he might water his drought-hit crops more cheaply, cleanly and efficiently 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 village in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.
"But it works," he stated, strolling over to a close-by tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has assisted me get higher yields, particularly throughout dry spell periods."
Mathoka said his earnings had doubled in the two years he has actually been pumping water utilizing biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre cheaper than routine diesel.
The biodiesel he is using is not just good news for him - it is also great news for the world.
Unlike the majority of 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 indicates that as well as being cleaner and more affordable than regular 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 neighborhoods off their land and pressed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more lucrative crops-for-fuel - worsening food lacks.
"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, 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 use it for our trucks, sell it to the United Nations to run a few of their buses - and also to regional farmers for irrigation."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually so far invested in biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an initiative released by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate change is taking a toll throughout east Africa and progressively unpredictable weather is becoming commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rainfall.
The recurring dry spells are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing millions of individuals in the Horn of Africa to the edge of severe appetite.
The number of Kenyans in need of food help in March surged by practically 70 percent over a duration of eight months to 1.1 million, largely due to bad rains, according to government figures.
With practically half Kenya's 47 counties declared to have a severe scarcity of rain, humanitarian companies are alerting of increased cravings in the months ahead.
"Only light rainfall is anticipated through June ... and this is not anticipated to ease drought in affected areas of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its newest report.
"Well below-average crop production, poor animals body conditions, and increased regional food costs are anticipated, which will minimize bad homes' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso area, the signs are already obvious.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the extended drought.
Villagers experience trekking longer ranges - sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans searching for water.
Small-scale farmers, many of whom are reliant on rain-fed agriculture, talk about plans to offer their goats to make ends fulfill if the harvest is bad.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are fretted.
A little but growing number are shedding their problem of dependence on the weather condition - and investing in watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme launched more than 3 years back.
band together to purchase the watering system - which includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs beginning from 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.
The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free monthly instalments till 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 permitted him to irrigate a bigger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a range of vegetables consisting of maize, tomatoes, spinach and sweet potatoes.
"With a diesel pump, maize yields were lower and I would get 15,000 shillings in three months. With the biodiesel pump, I can make 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 point to the plan as a significant benefit in assisting enhance their output.
"The instalment scheme is great. Most farmers do not have the cash and can not quickly get a loan to buy a pump like this," said Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood beside his blue biodiesel pump.
"Having a scheme like this helps us a lot. Our yields are good which suggests we can pay off the cost of the pump slowly in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school fees."
Zaynagro's effort is still in its early phases, with couple of farmers having actually repaid the full cost of the pumps.
But such biofuel plans are promising 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 integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme - could help energize rural Africa, he stated.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives in the world. The crucial concern is checking ideas and techniques in a collective style," said Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the region ought to attempt and learn from this experiment. Financial institutions should 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, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, residential or commercial property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Eliminate Drought In Kenya
Lonny Rancourt edited this page 2025-01-13 07:45:03 +09:00