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 inexpensively, easily and efficiently using 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!" 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 said, walking over to a nearby tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get higher yields, specifically during dry spell durations."
Mathoka stated his incomes had doubled in the two years he has been pumping water utilizing biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre less expensive than regular diesel.
The biodiesel he is using is not just good news for him - it is likewise good news for the world.
Unlike a lot 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 indicates that as well as being cleaner and less expensive than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels since no extra land is required to produce it.
From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has actually driven forest communities off their land and pressed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more successful crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food lacks.
"Our biodiesel originates from squashing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the procedure 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, offer it to the United Nations to run some of their buses - and also to local farmers for irrigation."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually so far bought biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an effort introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate modification is taking a toll across east Africa and increasingly unpredictable weather condition is ending up being commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.
The repeating droughts are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless individuals in the Horn of Africa to the edge of extreme cravings.
The number of Kenyans in requirement of food help in March surged by practically 70 percent over a period of 8 months to 1.1 million, mainly due to bad rains, according to federal government figures.
With practically half Kenya's 47 counties declared to have a major shortage of rain, humanitarian agencies are cautioning of increased cravings in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is anticipated through June ... and this is not expected to relieve dry spell in affected locations 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 local food costs are anticipated, which will decrease bad homes' access to food."
In area, the indications are already apparent.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the prolonged drought.
Villagers complain of trekking longer ranges - sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys loaded with empty jerry cans in search of water.
Small-scale farmers, most of whom are dependent on rain-fed farming, talk about plans to offer their goats to make ends meet if the harvest is poor.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are worried.
A small however growing number are shedding their problem of dependence on the weather - and purchasing watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme introduced more than 3 years earlier.
Neighbouring farmers unite to purchase the watering system - that 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 a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free regular monthly instalments until the overall is settled. They purchase the biodiesel to run the pumps from Zaynagro at 80 shillings a litre.
Farmer Alex Babu Kitheka, 39, said the biodiesel pump allowed him to irrigate a larger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety 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 point to the scheme as a major benefit in assisting improve their output.
"The instalment scheme is great. Most farmers don't have the cash and can not quickly get a loan to buy a pump like this," stated 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 good which implies we can pay off the cost of the pump slowly in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school costs."
Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early stages, with couple of farmers having actually repaid the full cost of the pumps.
But such biofuel plans are appealing due to the fact that they create a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for earnings, stated Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.
The simpleness of the design - easy-to-use, robust innovation, assured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go scheme - could assist amaze rural Africa, he said.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives worldwide. The key concern is checking concepts and approaches in a collective style," stated Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the area must attempt and find out from this experiment. Banks need to start explore 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, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Eliminate Drought In Kenya
tyreemclaren8 edited this page 2025-01-10 15:26:51 +00:00