By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it should be a joke when he was informed he might water his drought-hit crops more cheaply, cleanly and efficiently utilizing a pump fuelled by cotton waste.

"Who could believe it's possible to make a fuel better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" chuckled Mathoka, crouching down to check 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 large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually helped me get higher yields, especially throughout drought durations."

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

The biodiesel he is using is not just excellent news for him - it is likewise excellent news for the planet.

Unlike many 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 process.

That suggests that in addition to being cleaner and more affordable than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels because no extra 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 change from crops-for-food to more profitable crops-for-fuel - intensifying 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 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 some of their buses - and likewise to regional farmers for watering."

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually so far invested in biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an effort released by Zaynagro in 2015, .

DRY RIVER BEDS

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

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

The number 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 bad rains, according to federal government figures.

With nearly half Kenya's 47 counties declared to have a serious scarcity of rain, humanitarian firms are alerting of increased cravings in the months ahead.

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

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

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

Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the prolonged drought.

Villagers suffer travelling longer ranges - often more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys loaded with empty jerry cans looking for water.

Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom depend on rain-fed agriculture, talk about plans to offer their goats to make ends satisfy if the harvest is poor.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui's farmers are fretted.

A little however growing number are shedding their problem of dependence on the weather - and purchasing watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan released more than three years back.

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

The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free monthly instalments up until the total 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 larger 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 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 point to the scheme as a major benefit in helping enhance their output.

"The instalment plan is good. Most farmers do not have the cash and can not easily get a loan to purchase a pump like this," said Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood beside his blue biodiesel pump.

"Having a scheme like this assists us a lot. Our yields are good which indicates we can pay off the expense of the pump slowly in small amounts, and have money left over to pay the school fees."

Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early phases, with couple of farmers having actually paid back the complete expense of the pumps.

But such biofuel plans are promising since they create a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for profit, stated Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.

The simpleness of the model - easy-to-use, robust innovation, guaranteed supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go scheme - might help electrify rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices in the world. The essential issue is evaluating concepts and techniques in a collective fashion," stated Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the region ought to attempt and discover from this experiment. Financial institutions must start exploring with loans to groups of farmers. International donors and investors 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 modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)