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Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Fight Drought In Kenya

Rebecca Froggatt edited this page 2025-01-11 23:09:07 +08:00

By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it should be a joke when he was informed he could irrigate his drought-hit crops more cheaply, cleanly and effectively using a pump sustained 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 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 big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually assisted me get greater yields, specifically throughout dry spell periods."

Mathoka said his incomes had actually doubled in the two years he has been pumping water utilizing biodiesel, which is both more efficient and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre more affordable than routine diesel.

The biodiesel he is using is not simply good news for him - it is also excellent news for the world.

Unlike a lot of biofuels, which are stemmed from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha, it is made from a byproduct of the cotton-making procedure.

That means that along with being cleaner and more affordable than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels since no extra land is needed 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 to more lucrative crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food shortages.

"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 company 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 purchased biodiesel pumps for watering 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 nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rains.

The repeating dry spells are ruining crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless individuals in the Horn of Africa to the edge of extreme appetite.

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, mostly due to poor rains, according to federal government figures.

With practically half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a severe lack of rain, humanitarian firms are alerting of increased hunger in the months ahead.

"Only light rains is anticipated through June ... and this is not expected to ease drought in impacted areas of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its latest report.

"Well below-average crop production, poor animals body conditions, and increased regional food prices are prepared for, which will minimize bad households' access to food."

In Kitui's Kyuso area, the indications are already apparent.

Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the extended dry spell.

Villagers suffer 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 strategies to sell their goats to make ends satisfy 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 concern of dependence on the weather condition - and investing in watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme released more than 3 years earlier.

Neighbouring farmers unite to buy the watering system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses starting from 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.

The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month instalments till 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 allowed him to water a larger 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 3 months. With the biodiesel pump, I can make 45,000 shillings," said Alex Babu Kitheka, standing near his plot in Ilangilo town, 40 km (25 miles) from Kitui town.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Other farmers point to the scheme as a major advantage in helping improve 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 beside his blue biodiesel pump.

"Having a plan like this assists us a lot. Our yields are excellent which suggests we can pay off the expense of the pump gradually in percentages, and have cash left over to pay the school costs."

Zaynagro's effort is still in its early stages, with couple of farmers having actually paid back the full expense of the pumps.

But such biofuel schemes are appealing because they create a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for revenue, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.

The simpleness of the design - user friendly, robust technology, guaranteed supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan - might assist amaze rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives on the planet. The crucial problem is testing concepts and approaches in a collective fashion," said Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the region need to try and find out from this experiment. Financial institutions should begin try out loans to groups of farmers. International donors and investors 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, residential or commercial property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)