By Nita Bhalla

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

"Who could believe it's possible to make a fuel much better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" chuckled Mathoka, crouching down to inspect 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 assisted me get greater yields, particularly during dry spell durations."

Mathoka stated his profits had 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 just excellent news for him - it is likewise good news for the world.

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

That indicates that along with being cleaner and cheaper than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels due to the fact that no extra land is required 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 lucrative crops-for-fuel - exacerbating 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 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 a few of their buses - and also to regional farmers for watering."

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

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate change is taking a toll throughout east Africa and increasingly erratic weather is ending up being commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rainfall.

The repeating dry spells are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless individuals in the Horn of Africa to the verge of extreme cravings.

The variety of Kenyans in need of food help in March rose by almost 70 percent over a duration of 8 months to 1.1 million, mainly due to poor rains, according to government figures.

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

"Only light rainfall is forecast through June ... and this is not expected to alleviate drought in affected locations of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its most current report.

"Well below-average crop production, poor animals body conditions, and increased local food prices are prepared for, which will decrease bad households' 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 drought.

Villagers experience travelling longer distances - sometimes 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 reliant on rain-fed agriculture, go over strategies to sell their goats to make ends meet 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 problem of dependence on the weather - and buying irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme released more than 3 years back.

Neighbouring farmers band together to invest in 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 a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month instalments up until 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 enabled him to irrigate 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 make 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 scheme is good. Most farmers do not 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 scheme like this assists us a lot. Our yields are good which indicates we can pay off the cost of the pump slowly 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 actually repaid the full expense of the pumps.

But such biofuel plans are appealing because they produce a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for earnings, 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 - could help electrify rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options in the world. The crucial issue is evaluating concepts and approaches in a collaborative style," stated Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the region must try and gain from this experiment. Banks need 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, residential or commercial property rights and environment change. Visit http://news.trust.org)