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By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it must be a joke when he was informed he could irrigate his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, cleanly and efficiently utilizing 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!" chuckled Mathoka, crouching down to check the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri town in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.

"But it works," he stated, strolling over to a close-by tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually helped me get greater yields, particularly during dry spell periods."

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

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

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 procedure.

That suggests that along with being cleaner and cheaper than routine 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 switch from crops-for-food to more successful crops-for-fuel - worsening food shortages.

"Our biodiesel originates from squashing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the procedure of separating the seeds from raw cotton," said Taher Zavery, managing director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based business producing the biodiesel.

"We started 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 a few of their buses - and also to regional farmers for watering."

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

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate change is taking a toll across east Africa and progressively erratic weather 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 - pressing millions of people in the Horn of Africa to the verge of severe hunger.

The variety of Kenyans in need of food help in March rose by almost 70 percent over a period 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 serious scarcity of rain, humanitarian agencies are warning of increased appetite in the months ahead.

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

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

In Kitui's Kyuso location, the signs are already apparent.

Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the prolonged drought.

Villagers experience trekking longer distances - sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys loaded with empty jerry cans searching for water.

Small-scale farmers, many of whom are reliant on rain-fed agriculture, discuss strategies to offer their goats to make ends fulfill if the harvest is bad.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui's farmers are worried.

A small however growing number are shedding their burden of reliance on the weather condition - and buying watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan introduced more than three years ago.

Neighbouring farmers unite to invest in the watering system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs starting from 32,000 shillings, 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, said the biodiesel pump permitted him to irrigate a bigger 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 three 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 point to the scheme as a major advantage in assisting improve their output.

"The instalment plan is great. Most farmers don't have the cash and can not easily 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 assists us a lot. Our yields are good which suggests we can settle the cost of the pump slowly in small amounts, and have money left over to pay the school fees."

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

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

The simpleness of the design - user friendly, robust technology, guaranteed supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme - could assist energize rural Africa, he stated.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives in the world. The crucial problem is testing concepts and techniques in a collaborative style," stated Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the region should attempt and learn from this experiment. Financial institutions must start explore loans to groups of farmers. International donors and financiers 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, females's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights and climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)