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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 might irrigate his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, easily and effectively using a pump sustained by cotton waste.

"Who could believe it's possible to make a fuel better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" laughed Mathoka, crouching 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, strolling over to a close-by tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get greater yields, especially during drought periods."

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

The biodiesel he is using is not just good news for him - it is also great news for the world.

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

That implies that along with being cleaner and less expensive than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels since 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 pushed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more profitable crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food scarcities.

"Our biodiesel comes from squashing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the process of separating the seeds from raw cotton," stated Taher Zavery, handling director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based company 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 up until now purchased biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an initiative introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate change is taking a toll throughout east Africa and progressively irregular weather condition is becoming commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rainfall.

The repeating dry spells are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing millions of individuals in the Horn of Africa to the verge of severe appetite.

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

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

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

"Well below-average crop production, poor livestock body conditions, and increased regional food costs are prepared for, which will decrease bad homes' access to food."

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

Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the prolonged dry spell.

Villagers experience travelling longer distances - sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys laden with empty jerry cans looking for water.

Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom depend on rain-fed agriculture, discuss strategies to offer their goats to make ends satisfy if the harvest is bad.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui's farmers are worried.

A small but growing number are shedding their problem of reliance on the weather condition - and investing in watering systems powered by seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme launched more than three years back.

Neighbouring farmers unite to purchase the irrigation system - that 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 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 permitted him to irrigate 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 earn 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 scheme as a major benefit in helping enhance their output.

"The instalment scheme is great. Most farmers do not have the money and can not easily get a loan to buy a pump like this," stated Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood beside his blue biodiesel pump.

"Having a plan like this helps us a lot. Our yields are great which implies we can pay off the cost of the pump slowly in small quantities, and have cash left over to pay the school fees."

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

But such biofuel schemes are promising since they produce 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 model - user friendly, robust technology, guaranteed supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan - could assist energize rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives on the planet. The crucial problem is testing concepts and methods in a collaborative style," said Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the area ought to try and find out from this experiment. Banks must start explore 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, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, residential or commercial property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)