Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers To Eliminate Drought In Kenya
From Shiapedia
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 could irrigate his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, easily and effectively 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, bending 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 nearby tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually helped me get higher yields, particularly during drought periods."
Mathoka said his revenues had actually doubled in the two years he has actually been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more efficient and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre cheaper than routine diesel.
The biodiesel he is using is not just great news for him - it is also excellent news for the planet.
Unlike most biofuels, which are stemmed from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha curcas, it is made from a byproduct of the cotton-making process.
That means that in addition to being cleaner and less expensive than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels due to the fact that no extra land is required to produce it.
From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has driven forest communities off their land and pushed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more profitable crops-for-fuel - exacerbating 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, handling director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based business producing the biodiesel.
"We began producing and using 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 likewise to regional farmers for irrigation."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have up until now pumps for watering as part of an effort introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate modification is taking a toll throughout east Africa and progressively erratic weather condition is becoming commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.
The repeating droughts are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing millions of people in the Horn of Africa to the edge of extreme cravings.
The number of Kenyans in need of food aid in March rose by nearly 70 percent over a duration of eight months to 1.1 million, mainly due to poor rains, according to government figures.
With nearly half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a severe shortage of rain, humanitarian agencies are warning of increased appetite in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is forecast through June ... and this is not expected to relieve drought in impacted locations of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its latest report.
"Well below-average crop production, poor livestock body conditions, and increased local food rates are expected, which will minimize bad homes' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso area, the signs are currently obvious.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the extended drought.
Villagers grumble of trekking longer ranges - in some cases more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys laden with empty jerry cans in search of water.
Small-scale farmers, many of whom depend on rain-fed farming, talk about strategies to sell their goats to make ends fulfill if the harvest is poor.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are fretted.
A little however growing number are shedding their problem of dependence on the weather condition - and buying irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme released more than three years back.
Neighbouring farmers unite to buy the irrigation system - which consists of the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs starting from 32,000 shillings, depending on 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 permitted him to water 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 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 plan as a significant benefit in helping enhance their output.
"The instalment plan is great. Most farmers do not have the cash and can not quickly 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 helps us a lot. Our yields are good which means we can pay off the cost of the pump slowly in little amounts, and have cash left over to pay the school costs."
Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early stages, with few farmers having paid back the complete expense of the pumps.
But such biofuel plans are promising because they develop a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for earnings, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.
The simplicity of the model - user friendly, robust technology, ensured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan - could help energize rural Africa, he stated.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives on the planet. The essential issue is testing ideas and techniques in a collective fashion," stated Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the area ought to attempt and gain from this experiment. Financial organizations 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, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, home rights and climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)
