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 irrigate his drought-hit crops more cheaply, cleanly and efficiently using a pump sustained by cotton waste.

"Who could believe it's possible to make a fuel much better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" laughed Mathoka, bending 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 said, strolling over to a neighboring tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually assisted me get higher yields, specifically during drought periods."

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

The biodiesel he is utilizing is not just good news for him - it is likewise good news for the world.

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

That means that in addition to 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 driven forest communities off their land and pushed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more rewarding crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food scarcities.

"Our biodiesel originates from squashing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the procedure of separating the seeds from raw cotton," said Taher Zavery, managing director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based company producing the biodiesel.

"We began producing and utilizing 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 a few of their buses - and also to local farmers for watering."

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually so far purchased biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an effort introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

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

The recurring dry spells are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the verge of extreme cravings.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom are dependent on agriculture, talk about plans to offer their goats to make ends meet 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 reliance on the weather condition - and investing in irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme introduced more than 3 years back.

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

The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month instalments till the total is settled. They purchase 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 vegetables 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 make 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 plan as a major advantage in helping enhance their output.

"The instalment scheme is great. Most farmers don't have the cash and can not easily get a loan to buy a pump like this," stated 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 good which suggests we can settle the cost of the pump gradually in small amounts, and have cash left over to pay the school fees."

Zaynagro's initiative 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 appealing because they create 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 simplicity of the model - user friendly, robust innovation, guaranteed supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go scheme - could help electrify rural Africa, he stated.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives worldwide. The essential concern is testing concepts and techniques in a collective style," said Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the region ought to attempt and discover from this experiment. Banks need to start try out 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, residential or commercial property rights and environment change. Visit http://news.trust.org)