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Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Combat Drought In Kenya

Essie Euler edited this page 2025-01-12 05:24:53 +00:00

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 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 much better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" laughed Mathoka, bending 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 actually assisted me get higher yields, particularly throughout drought durations."

Mathoka said his revenues had doubled in the 2 years he has been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more efficient and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre more affordable than regular diesel.

The biodiesel he is utilizing is not just great news for him - it is also great 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 implies that in addition to being cleaner and cheaper than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels because no extra 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 switch from crops-for-food to more successful crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food scarcities.

"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, managing director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based business producing the biodiesel.

"We started producing and using it to power our cotton ginning factory in 2011. With increased production, we now utilize it for our trucks, sell it to the United Nations to run some of their buses - and likewise to regional farmers for watering."

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

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate change is taking a toll across east Africa and increasingly erratic weather is becoming commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rainfall.

The repeating droughts are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless individuals in the Horn of Africa to the brink of extreme cravings.

The variety of Kenyans in need of food aid in March rose by almost 70 percent over a period of eight months to 1.1 million, largely due to poor rains, according to federal government figures.

With nearly half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a severe scarcity of rain, humanitarian agencies are warning of increased cravings in the months ahead.

"Only light rains is forecast through June ... and this is not anticipated to reduce dry spell in impacted areas of Kenya and Somalia," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its most current report.

"Well below-average crop production, poor livestock body conditions, and increased regional food costs are prepared for, which will decrease poor families' access to food."

In Kitui's Kyuso area, the indications are currently obvious.

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

Villagers experience trekking longer ranges - sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans looking for water.

Small-scale farmers, many of whom are reliant on rain-fed agriculture, go over plans to sell their goats to make ends meet if the harvest is poor.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui's farmers are worried.

A little however growing number are shedding their problem of dependence on the weather - and buying irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme released more than three years earlier.

Neighbouring farmers band together to purchase the watering system - that includes 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 up 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, said the biodiesel pump enabled him to irrigate a larger portion of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety 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 earn 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 indicate the plan as a major benefit in helping enhance their output.

"The instalment plan is excellent. 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 indicates we can pay off the expense of the pump gradually in small amounts, and have cash left over to pay the school charges."

Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early stages, with couple of farmers having repaid the full expense of the pumps.

But such biofuel plans are appealing since they create a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for profit, stated Sanjoy Sanyal, senior associate for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.

The simpleness of the design - user friendly, robust technology, ensured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go scheme - might help electrify rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices worldwide. The crucial problem is testing ideas and techniques in a collaborative fashion," stated Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the area ought to try and gain from this experiment. Banks ought to begin explore 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, home rights and environment modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)