1 Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Eliminate Drought In Kenya

Carrol Ehmann edited this page 2025-01-12 16:41:19 +08:00

By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka believed it needs to be a joke when he was informed he could irrigate his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, cleanly and efficiently using a pump fuelled by cotton waste.

"Who could think it's possible to make a fuel much better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" chuckled 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 neighboring tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has assisted me get greater yields, especially during dry spell durations."

Mathoka stated his revenues had doubled in the two years he has been pumping water utilizing biodiesel, which is both more efficient and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre less expensive than regular diesel.

The biodiesel he is utilizing is not simply great news for him - it is likewise great news for the world.

Unlike a lot of biofuels, which are derived from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha, it is made from a by-product of the cotton-making process.

That indicates 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 additional land is needed to produce it.

From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has driven forest neighborhoods off their land and pushed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more rewarding crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food lacks.

"Our biodiesel comes from crushing 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 use it for our trucks, sell it to the United Nations to run a few of their buses - and likewise to regional farmers for watering."

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

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate modification is taking a toll across east Africa and significantly irregular weather is ending up being commonplace in such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.

The recurring droughts are ruining crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing millions of people in the Horn of Africa to the edge of severe hunger.

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

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

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

"Well below-average crop production, bad animals body conditions, and increased regional food prices are expected, which will reduce bad families' access to food."

In Kitui's Kyuso location, the indications are currently evident.

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

Villagers complain of travelling longer distances - often more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys laden with empty jerry cans searching for water.

Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom depend on rain-fed farming, discuss 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 but growing number are shedding their burden of dependence on the weather condition - and purchasing watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan introduced more than 3 years back.

Neighbouring farmers band together to invest in the irrigation system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs starting from 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.

The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free monthly instalments until the total is paid off. They buy 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 bigger part 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 make 45,000 shillings," stated Alex Babu Kitheka, standing near his plot in Ilangilo town, 40 km (25 miles) from Kitui town.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Other farmers point to the plan as a significant advantage in helping improve their output.

"The instalment scheme is excellent. 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 next to his blue biodiesel pump.

"Having a plan like this helps us a lot. Our yields are great which indicates we can settle the cost of the pump gradually in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school charges."

Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early phases, with few farmers having paid back the full cost of the pumps.

But such biofuel plans are promising because they create a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for earnings, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior associate for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.

The simpleness of the model - easy-to-use, robust technology, assured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go scheme - might assist energize rural Africa, he stated.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options worldwide. The key concern is testing ideas and methods in a collaborative fashion," said Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the region should try and learn from this experiment. Financial institutions need to begin experimenting with loans to groups of farmers. International donors and financiers 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 climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)