Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Combat Drought In Kenya

By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it must be a joke when he was told he might water his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, easily and efficiently utilizing a pump sustained by cotton waste.

“Who could believe it’s possible to make a fuel better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn’t!” chuckled Mathoka, crouching down to inspect the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri town in Kenya’s southeast Kitui county.

“But it works,” he said, walking over to a neighboring tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. “Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get greater yields, particularly during drought periods.”

Mathoka said his incomes 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 more affordable than regular diesel.

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

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 along with being cleaner and cheaper than routine fuel, it is more 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 pressed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more rewarding crops-for-fuel – worsening food scarcities.

“Our biodiesel comes from squashing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning – the process 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, offer it to the United Nations to run some of their buses – and likewise to local farmers for watering.”

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have so far bought biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an initiative released by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate modification is taking a toll throughout east Africa and progressively erratic weather is ending up being commonplace in nations 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 millions of people in the Horn of Africa to the verge of extreme cravings.

The number of Kenyans in requirement of food help in March rose by almost 70 percent over a duration of eight months to 1.1 million, mostly due to bad rains, according to federal government figures.

With nearly half Kenya’s 47 counties stated to have a major shortage of rain, humanitarian companies are cautioning of increased appetite in the months ahead.

“Only light rains is forecast through June … and this is not anticipated to minimize drought 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 local food prices are anticipated, which will reduce bad homes’ access to food.”

In Kitui’s Kyuso location, the signs are already apparent.

Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the prolonged drought.

Villagers complain of trekking longer distances – often more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans in search of water.

Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom are dependent on rain-fed farming, talk about plans to offer their goats to make ends satisfy if the harvest is bad.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui’s farmers are stressed.

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

Neighbouring farmers unite to purchase 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 upon the size of the pump.

The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free regular monthly instalments until the total is paid off. They purchase 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 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 indicate the scheme as a significant advantage in assisting improve their output.

“The instalment scheme is good. Most farmers don’t have the cash and can not quickly get a loan to purchase 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 great which means we can pay off the cost of the pump slowly in little amounts, and have money left over to pay the school charges.”

Zaynagro’s effort is still in its early stages, with couple of farmers having repaid the complete cost of the pumps.

But such biofuel plans are promising because they develop a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for profit, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior associate 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 help energize rural Africa, he said.

“There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices on the planet. The essential problem is evaluating ideas and methods in a collaborative style,” said Sanyal.

“Other cotton ginning factories in the area should attempt and learn from this experiment. Banks should begin experimenting with loans to groups of farmers. International donors and investors 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, ladies’s and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, home rights and environment change. Visit http://news.trust.org)