By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it must be a joke when he was told he might irrigate his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, cleanly and efficiently utilizing a pump sustained by cotton waste.

"Who could think it's possible to make a fuel better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" chuckled Mathoka, crouching down to inspect the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) in Ituri village in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.

"But it works," he said, walking over to a nearby tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually assisted me get higher yields, particularly throughout drought periods."

Mathoka said his revenues had actually doubled in the 2 years he has been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more efficient and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre cheaper than regular diesel.

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

Unlike the majority 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 process.

That indicates that along with being cleaner and cheaper than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels because no extra land is needed to produce it.

From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has actually driven forest communities off their land and pressed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more profitable crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food lacks.

"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, offer 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 actually so far invested in biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an initiative introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

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

The repeating droughts are ruining crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing millions of individuals in the Horn of Africa to the verge of severe cravings.

The variety of Kenyans in requirement of food aid in March rose by practically 70 percent over a period of 8 months to 1.1 million, mostly due to poor rains, according to federal government figures.

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

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

"Well below-average crop production, poor animals body conditions, and increased local food prices are anticipated, 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 a result of the extended drought.

Villagers complain of trekking 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 farming, go over plans to sell their goats to make ends satisfy if the harvest is poor.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui's farmers are stressed.

A small but 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 scheme launched more than 3 years back.

Neighbouring farmers band together to buy the irrigation system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes 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 regular monthly instalments until the total 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 allowed him to irrigate a larger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a range 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 village, 40 km (25 miles) from Kitui town.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Other farmers indicate the plan as a major advantage in helping enhance their output.

"The instalment plan is great. Most farmers don't have the cash and can not quickly get a loan to purchase a pump like this," said Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood next to his blue biodiesel pump.

"Having a scheme like this helps us a lot. Our yields are great which suggests we can pay off the expense of the pump slowly in little quantities, and have money left over to pay the school costs."

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

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

The simpleness of the design - user friendly, robust innovation, assured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan - could help amaze rural Africa, he stated.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices worldwide. The essential issue is checking concepts and methods in a collective style," said Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the area should try and discover from this experiment. Financial organizations ought to start explore 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, females's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)