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

"Who could think it's possible to make a fuel much better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" chuckled Mathoka, bending 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, strolling over to a nearby tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually helped me get greater yields, particularly during dry spell periods."

Mathoka stated his revenues had doubled in the two years he has been pumping water utilizing biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre more affordable than routine diesel.

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

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

That indicates that along with being cleaner and more affordable than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels due to the fact that no additional land is needed to produce it.

From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has actually driven forest neighborhoods off their land and pushed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more profitable crops-for-fuel - worsening food scarcities.

"Our biodiesel comes from crushing 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 using 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 irrigation."

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have up until now purchased 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 progressively unpredictable weather is ending up being commonplace in countries 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 countless individuals in the Horn of Africa to the brink of extreme cravings.

The number of Kenyans in requirement of food help in March rose by almost 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 serious lack of rain, humanitarian agencies are alerting of increased hunger in the months ahead.

"Only light rainfall is anticipated through June ... and this is not expected to reduce dry spell in affected areas 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 prices are prepared for, which will minimize poor families' 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 extended drought.

Villagers suffer travelling longer distances - in some cases more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans searching for water.

Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom are dependent on rain-fed agriculture, go over strategies to offer their goats to make ends fulfill 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 condition - and buying irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme released more than three years ago.

Neighbouring farmers unite to purchase 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 on the size of the pump.

The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month 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 permitted him to irrigate a bigger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety of veggies consisting of maize, tomatoes, spinach and sweet potatoes.

"With a diesel pump, maize yields were lower and I would get 15,000 shillings in 3 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 benefit in assisting enhance their output.

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

"Having a plan like this assists us a lot. Our yields are good which implies we can pay off the expense of the pump gradually in percentages, and have cash left over to pay the school charges."

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

But such biofuel plans are appealing because they produce a by turning waste to biofuel for revenue, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior associate for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.

The simplicity of the design - user friendly, robust innovation, assured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go scheme - might assist energize rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices in the world. The key problem is checking ideas and methods in a collective fashion," stated Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the region must attempt and discover from this experiment. Financial organizations 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, females's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights and environment change. Visit http://news.trust.org)