By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it needs to be a joke when he was told he might water his drought-hit crops more cheaply, easily and efficiently utilizing 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, 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 stated, walking over to a close-by tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get higher yields, specifically throughout drought periods."

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

The biodiesel he is utilizing is not simply excellent news for him - it is likewise good news for the planet.

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

That implies that as well as being cleaner and cheaper than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels due to the fact that no extra land is needed to produce it.

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

"Our biodiesel originates 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 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 regional 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, stated Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

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

The recurring droughts are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless individuals in the Horn of Africa to the verge of severe cravings.

The variety of Kenyans in requirement of food aid in March surged by nearly 70 percent over a period of eight months to 1.1 million, mainly due to bad rains, according to government figures.

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

"Only light rains is forecast through June ... and this is not anticipated to alleviate drought in affected areas of Kenya and Somalia," stated 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 expected, which will minimize poor households' access to food."

In Kitui's Kyuso location, the indications are already obvious.

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

Villagers suffer trekking longer ranges - in some cases 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 are dependent on rain-fed farming, talk about plans to offer their goats to make ends fulfill if the harvest is bad.

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 - and buying irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan launched more than 3 years earlier.

Neighbouring farmers band together to invest in the watering system - which includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses starting from 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.

The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free monthly instalments till the overall 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 him to water a bigger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety 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 three months. With the biodiesel pump, I can earn 45,000 shillings," said Alex Babu Kitheka, standing 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 helping enhance their output.

"The instalment scheme is good. Most farmers do not have the cash and can not easily get a loan to purchase a pump like this," stated 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 excellent which suggests we can pay off the expense 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 couple of farmers having paid back the full expense of the pumps.

But such biofuel schemes are promising due to the fact that they create a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for revenue, stated Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.

The simplicity of the design - user friendly, robust innovation, assured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go plan - could help energize rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options in the world. The essential issue is checking concepts and techniques in a collaborative fashion," said Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the region need to attempt and gain from this experiment. Financial organizations need to begin exploring with loans to groups of farmers. International donors and investors 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, ladies's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)