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 cheaply, easily 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!" chuckled Mathoka, crouching down to examine 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 neighboring tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually helped me get higher yields, specifically throughout drought periods."

Mathoka stated his profits had actually doubled in the 2 years he has been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre less expensive than routine diesel.

The biodiesel he is using is not simply great news for him - it is likewise great news for the world.

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

That means that as well as being cleaner and cheaper than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels since no additional 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 change from crops-for-food to more profitable crops-for-fuel - worsening food scarcities.

"Our biodiesel comes from squashing 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 company producing the biodiesel.

"We began producing and using 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 some of their buses - and likewise to local farmers for irrigation."

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually up until now bought biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an initiative launched by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

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

The repeating droughts are ruining crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing millions of individuals in the Horn of Africa to the edge of extreme cravings.

The number of Kenyans in requirement of food help in March surged by nearly 70 percent over a period of eight months to 1.1 million, mostly due to bad rains, according to government figures.

With practically half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a serious shortage of rain, humanitarian agencies are alerting of increased hunger in the months ahead.

"Only light rains is anticipated through June ... and this is not anticipated to ease drought in affected locations of Kenya and Somalia," stated 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 expected, which will minimize bad households' access to food."

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

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

Villagers experience trekking longer distances - sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys loaded with empty jerry cans searching for water.

Small-scale farmers, most of whom depend on rain-fed agriculture, go over strategies to offer their goats to make ends meet if the harvest is bad.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui's farmers are stressed.

A small however growing number are shedding their problem of dependence on the weather condition - and buying watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme launched more than 3 years earlier.

Neighbouring farmers unite to buy the watering system - which consists of the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs starting from 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.

The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free monthly instalments up until the total 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 water 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 earn 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 great. Most farmers don't 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 great which implies we can settle the cost of the pump slowly in little amounts, 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 cost of the pumps.

But such biofuel schemes are promising since they produce a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for earnings, 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 integrated with a pay-as-you-go plan - could assist energize rural Africa, he stated.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives in the world. The crucial issue is evaluating concepts and methods in a collaborative fashion," said Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the area should try and learn from this experiment. Banks ought to start experimenting with 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, ladies's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights and environment change. Visit http://news.trust.org)