By Nita Bhalla

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

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

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

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

Unlike most 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 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 communities off their land and pushed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more lucrative crops-for-fuel - worsening 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, handling director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based company 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 a few of their buses - and also to local farmers for irrigation."

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually up until now bought biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an initiative launched by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate modification is taking a toll throughout east Africa and significantly unpredictable weather condition is ending up being commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rainfall.

The recurring dry spells are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the brink of extreme hunger.

The variety of Kenyans in need of food help in March rose by almost 70 percent over a duration of eight months to 1.1 million, mostly due to bad rains, according to government figures.

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

"Only light rainfall is anticipated through June ... and this is not expected to reduce drought in affected locations of Kenya and Somalia," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its latest report.

"Well below-average crop production, bad animals body conditions, and increased local food rates are prepared for, which will decrease bad families' access to food."

In Kitui's Kyuso area, the signs are currently evident.

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

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

Small-scale farmers, many of whom depend on rain-fed agriculture, discuss plans to offer their goats to make ends meet if the harvest is bad.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui's farmers are fretted.

A small but growing number are shedding their burden of dependence on the weather - and buying irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan released more than 3 years back.

Neighbouring farmers band together to buy the irrigation system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs beginning with 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.

The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month instalments till the overall is settled. 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 bigger 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 earn 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 major benefit in assisting improve their output.

"The instalment scheme is good. Most farmers do not have the cash and can not easily get a loan to buy a pump like this," stated 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 gradually in little quantities, and have cash left over to pay the school charges."

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

But such biofuel schemes are promising because they develop 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 simplicity of the model - easy-to-use, robust technology, ensured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go plan - might help amaze rural Africa, he said.

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

"Other cotton ginning factories in the area should attempt and find out from this experiment. Banks should begin explore 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, females's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, home rights and climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)