By Nita Bhalla
KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka believed it should be a joke when he was informed he might irrigate his drought-hit crops more cheaply, cleanly and efficiently utilizing a by cotton waste.
"Who could believe 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 village in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.
"But it works," he stated, strolling over to a neighboring tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has assisted me get greater yields, particularly during drought periods."
Mathoka stated his incomes 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 simply excellent news for him - it is likewise good news for the world.
Unlike a lot of 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 process.
That suggests that as well as being cleaner and less expensive than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels because no extra land is needed to produce it.
From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has driven forest communities off their land and pressed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more rewarding crops-for-fuel - worsening food lacks.
"Our biodiesel comes 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 company 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, offer it to the United Nations to run a few of their buses - and likewise to regional farmers for irrigation."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have so far bought biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an effort introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate change is taking a toll throughout east Africa and progressively erratic weather condition is becoming commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.
The repeating droughts are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing millions of people in the Horn of Africa to the brink 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, mostly due to poor rains, according to government figures.
With practically half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a major shortage of rain, humanitarian companies are warning of increased appetite in the months ahead.
"Only light rainfall is forecast through June ... and this is not anticipated to minimize dry spell in impacted areas of Kenya and Somalia," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its latest report.
"Well below-average crop production, poor animals body conditions, and increased regional food rates are prepared for, which will reduce poor homes' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso location, the signs are already apparent.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome 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, the majority of whom are reliant on rain-fed farming, go over plans to sell their goats to make ends satisfy if the harvest is bad.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are stressed.
A little but growing number are shedding their concern of reliance on the weather - 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.
Neighbouring farmers band together to buy 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 on the size of the pump.
The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free monthly 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, stated the biodiesel pump enabled him to water 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 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 significant advantage 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 buy a pump like this," said 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 great which suggests we can settle the expense of the pump gradually in percentages, and have cash left over to pay the school fees."
Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early phases, with few farmers having actually repaid the full cost of the pumps.
But such biofuel schemes are appealing since they create a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for earnings, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior associate for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.
The simplicity of the design - user friendly, robust technology, guaranteed supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan - could help amaze rural Africa, he stated.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options worldwide. The key concern is evaluating ideas and techniques in a collaborative style," stated Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the area should try and learn from this experiment. Banks ought to begin explore loans to groups of farmers. International donors and financiers 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, home rights and climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Fight Drought In Kenya
Ashleigh Rolland edited this page 2025-01-17 19:21:09 +01:00