Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers To Eliminate Drought In Kenya
By Nita Bhalla
KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it should be a joke when he was informed he might irrigate his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, cleanly and efficiently 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 check the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri village in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.
"But it works," he said, strolling over to a neighboring tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually assisted me get higher yields, especially throughout drought periods."
Mathoka stated his revenues had doubled in the two years he has been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more efficient and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre less expensive than regular diesel.
The biodiesel he is utilizing is not just excellent news for him - it is also great news for the planet.
Unlike a lot of biofuels, which are stemmed from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha, it is made from a byproduct of the cotton-making procedure.
That indicates that in addition to being cleaner and cheaper 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 pressed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more lucrative crops-for-fuel - exacerbating 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 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, sell 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 up until now purchased biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an effort launched by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate modification is taking a toll across east Africa and increasingly erratic weather is becoming commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.
The repeating dry spells are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless individuals in the Horn of Africa to the verge of extreme hunger.
The number of Kenyans in need of food help in March rose by practically 70 percent over a duration of 8 months to 1.1 million, largely due to bad rains, according to federal government figures.
With practically half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a major scarcity of rain, humanitarian companies are alerting of increased cravings in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is anticipated through June ... and this is not expected to minimize dry spell in affected areas of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its newest report.
"Well below-average crop production, poor livestock body conditions, and increased regional food costs are prepared for, which will decrease bad families' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso location, the indications are currently obvious.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the prolonged dry spell.
Villagers experience travelling longer ranges - in some cases more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys loaded with empty jerry cans in search of water.
Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom are dependent on rain-fed farming, go over plans to offer their goats to make ends meet if the harvest is bad.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are fretted.
A little however growing number are shedding their concern of dependence on the weather - and purchasing irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme released more than three years ago.
Neighbouring farmers unite to purchase 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 upon the size of the pump.
The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month instalments till the overall is settled. They buy 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 larger portion of his one-acre plot, where he grows a range of veggies consisting of 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 village, 40 km (25 miles) from Kitui town.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Other farmers indicate the scheme as a major benefit in helping improve their output.
"The instalment plan is excellent. Most farmers do not have the cash and can not easily get a loan to buy a pump like this," stated Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood beside his blue biodiesel pump.
"Having a scheme like this assists us a lot. Our yields are good which indicates we can settle the cost of the pump slowly in small amounts, and have money left over to pay the school costs."
Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early phases, with couple of farmers having actually paid back the full expense of the pumps.
But such biofuel plans are appealing due to the fact that they develop a circular economy by turning waste to for revenue, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.
The simplicity of the design - easy-to-use, robust innovation, guaranteed supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go scheme - could help amaze rural Africa, he stated.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options on the planet. The essential concern is checking concepts and approaches in a collective fashion," said Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the area should attempt and learn from this experiment. Financial organizations ought to start explore 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, females's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, home rights and climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)
