This will delete the page "Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Fight Drought In Kenya"
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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 water 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 better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't! laughed Mathoka, crouching 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, walking over to a nearby tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually assisted me get higher yields, especially during drought durations.
Mathoka said his earnings had actually doubled in the 2 years he has actually been pumping water utilizing biodiesel, which is both more efficient and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre less expensive than routine diesel.
The biodiesel he is using is not just great news for him - it is likewise great news for the world.
Unlike a lot of biofuels, which are obtained from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha curcas, it is made from a byproduct of the cotton-making procedure.
That indicates that along with being cleaner and cheaper than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels since no additional land is required to produce it.
From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has actually driven forest neighborhoods off their land and pressed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more profitable crops-for-fuel - intensifying food scarcities.
Our biodiesel comes from crushing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the procedure of separating the seeds from raw cotton, stated Taher Zavery, managing director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based company 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, sell it to the United Nations to run some of their buses - and also to local farmers for watering.
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually up until now bought biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an effort launched by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate change is taking a toll across east Africa and progressively unpredictable weather condition is becoming commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rains.
The recurring dry spells are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the verge of severe cravings.
The number of Kenyans in requirement of food help in March rose by practically 70 percent over a period of 8 months to 1.1 million, largely due to poor rains, according to government figures.
With nearly half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a major shortage of rain, humanitarian firms are alerting of increased appetite in the months ahead.
Only light rainfall is anticipated through June ... and this is not expected to alleviate dry spell in impacted locations of Kenya and Somalia, said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its latest report.
Well below-average crop production, bad livestock body conditions, and increased local food prices are anticipated, which will minimize bad families' access to food.
In Kitui's Kyuso area, the indications are currently apparent.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the extended dry spell.
Villagers suffer travelling longer ranges - often more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys loaded with empty jerry cans in search of water.
Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom depend on rain-fed farming, go over plans to sell their goats to make ends satisfy if the harvest is bad.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are fretted.
A little however growing number are shedding their burden of reliance on the weather condition - and buying irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme launched more than three years back.
Neighbouring farmers unite to purchase the irrigation system - which consists of the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses beginning with 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.
The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free regular monthly instalments up until the overall 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 part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a range of veggies 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, near his plot in Ilangilo village, 40 km (25 miles) from Kitui town.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Other farmers indicate the scheme as a major advantage in assisting enhance their output.
The instalment scheme is good. Most farmers don't 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 plan like this helps us a lot. Our yields are great which means 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 stages, with couple of farmers having actually repaid the complete cost of the pumps.
But such biofuel plans are appealing due to the fact that they produce 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 simplicity of the model - user friendly, robust innovation, ensured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme - might assist electrify rural Africa, he stated.
There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices worldwide. The essential concern is evaluating ideas and approaches in a collective style, stated Sanyal.
Other cotton ginning factories in the area need to attempt and gain from this experiment. Financial institutions ought to start try out 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, ladies's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights and environment change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
This will delete the page "Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Fight Drought In Kenya"
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