Ez ki fogja törölni a(z) "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 believed it must be a joke when he was told he could water his drought-hit crops more cheaply, cleanly and effectively 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 check the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri village in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.
"But it works," he stated, strolling over to a neighboring tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually helped me get greater yields, specifically during drought durations."
Mathoka said his incomes had actually doubled in the two years he has been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more efficient and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre less expensive than regular diesel.
The biodiesel he is using is not just great news for him - it is also excellent news for the world.
Unlike the majority of biofuels, which are derived 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 in addition to 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 driven forest communities off their land and pushed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more successful crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food scarcities.
"Our biodiesel originates from squashing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the process of separating the seeds from raw cotton," stated Taher Zavery, managing director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based business producing the biodiesel.
"We began producing and using it to power our cotton ginning factory in 2011. With increased production, we now utilize it for our trucks, offer it to the United Nations to run a few of their buses - and also to regional farmers for irrigation."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have so far invested in biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an effort introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate change is taking a toll across east Africa and progressively irregular weather condition is becoming commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rains.
The recurring droughts are ruining crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing countless individuals in the Horn of Africa to the verge of severe appetite.
The number of Kenyans in requirement of food help in March surged by almost 70 percent over a duration of 8 months to 1.1 million, mainly due to bad rains, according to federal government figures.
With almost half Kenya's 47 counties declared to have a severe shortage of rain, humanitarian companies are warning of increased appetite in the months ahead.
"Only light rains is anticipated through June ... and this is not anticipated to reduce drought in impacted areas of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its newest report.
"Well below-average crop production, bad livestock body conditions, and increased local food costs are anticipated, which will reduce poor homes' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso location, the indications are already apparent.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the spell.
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, many of whom depend on rain-fed farming, talk about plans to sell their goats to make ends meet if the harvest is bad.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are stressed.
A little however growing number are shedding their burden of reliance on the weather - and buying irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan released more than three years earlier.
Neighbouring farmers band together to buy the watering system - which consists of the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs starting from 32,000 shillings, depending on 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 buy the biodiesel to run the pumps from Zaynagro at 80 shillings a litre.
Farmer Alex Babu Kitheka, 39, stated the biodiesel pump permitted him to water a bigger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety 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 three months. With the biodiesel pump, I can make 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 significant advantage in assisting enhance their output.
"The instalment scheme is great. Most farmers do not have the cash and can not easily get a loan to buy a pump like this," said Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood beside his blue biodiesel pump.
"Having a plan like this assists us a lot. Our yields are great which means we can pay off the expense of the pump slowly in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school charges."
Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early phases, with few farmers having repaid the full cost of the pumps.
But such biofuel schemes are promising due to the fact that they produce 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 innovation, ensured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go plan - might assist electrify rural Africa, he said.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options on the planet. The crucial concern is testing ideas and approaches in a collective style," said Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the area need to attempt and find out from this experiment. Financial organizations must begin 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 change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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