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 informed he could irrigate his drought-hit crops more cheaply, easily and efficiently using a pump fuelled 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, walking over to a neighboring tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually assisted me get higher yields, specifically during dry spell durations."
Mathoka said his revenues had actually doubled in the 2 years he has been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre cheaper than routine diesel.
The biodiesel he is using is not simply great news for him - it is likewise excellent news for the world.
Unlike the majority of biofuels, which are originated from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha, it is made from a byproduct of the cotton-making process.
That implies that as well as being cleaner and more affordable 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 driven forest communities off their land and pushed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more rewarding crops-for-fuel - worsening food scarcities.
"Our biodiesel originates from crushing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the procedure of separating the seeds from raw cotton," stated Taher Zavery, handling director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based business producing the biodiesel.
"We started 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 some of their buses - and likewise to regional farmers for irrigation."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have up until now invested in biodiesel pumps for irrigation 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 progressively irregular weather condition is ending up being commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rainfall.
The recurring dry spells are ruining crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing millions of individuals in the Horn of Africa to the brink of extreme hunger.
The variety of Kenyans in need of food aid in March rose by almost 70 percent over a period of 8 months to 1.1 million, mainly due to poor rains, according to federal government figures.
With nearly half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a severe shortage of rain, humanitarian companies are alerting of increased appetite in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is forecast through June ... and this is not anticipated to minimize dry spell in affected areas of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its most current report.
"Well below-average crop production, bad animals body conditions, and increased local food prices are expected, which will lower bad homes' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso area, the signs are currently evident.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the prolonged drought.
Villagers complain of travelling longer ranges - often more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans looking for water.
Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom are dependent on rain-fed agriculture, discuss 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 fretted.
A little however growing number are their concern of reliance on the weather - and buying watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme launched more than three years ago.
Neighbouring farmers band together to purchase the watering system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses starting from 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.
The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free monthly instalments until the overall is paid off. 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 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 make 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 point to the plan as a significant advantage in helping enhance their output.
"The instalment scheme is great. Most farmers do not 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 scheme like this assists us a lot. Our yields are great which suggests we can pay off the cost of the pump slowly in small quantities, and have cash left over to pay the school costs."
Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early phases, with couple of farmers having actually repaid the complete expense of the pumps.
But such biofuel schemes are appealing because they produce 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 simpleness of the design - user friendly, robust technology, assured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme - might assist energize rural Africa, he stated.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options worldwide. The essential issue is testing concepts and techniques in a collective fashion," stated Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the region need to try and gain from this experiment. Banks should start experimenting with 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 change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Eliminate Drought In Kenya
Buford Greenham edited this page 2025-01-18 00:18:10 +00:00