By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka believed it should be a joke when he was told he might water his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, easily and efficiently using 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!" laughed Mathoka, crouching 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, walking over to a nearby tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get greater yields, specifically during dry spell periods."

Mathoka stated his earnings had doubled in the two years he has been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more effective 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 great news for the planet.

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

That implies that in addition to being cleaner and cheaper than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels due to the fact that no extra land is needed to produce it.

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

"Our biodiesel originates 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 business 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, sell 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 up until now purchased biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an effort released by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate change is taking a toll across east Africa and increasingly unpredictable weather is becoming commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rainfall.

The recurring droughts are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless individuals in the Horn of Africa to the brink of severe cravings.

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

With almost half Kenya's 47 counties declared to have a severe lack of rain, humanitarian companies are cautioning of in the months ahead.

"Only light rains is anticipated through June ... and this is not anticipated to minimize dry spell in affected locations of Kenya and Somalia," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its most current report.

"Well below-average crop production, poor livestock body conditions, and increased local food costs are anticipated, which will decrease bad families' access to food."

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

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

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

Small-scale farmers, most of whom depend on rain-fed farming, discuss strategies to sell their goats to make ends meet 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 concern of dependence on the weather - and buying watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan introduced more than 3 years earlier.

Neighbouring farmers unite to purchase the watering system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs beginning 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 till 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, stated the biodiesel pump enabled him to water a bigger portion 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 village, 40 km (25 miles) from Kitui town.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

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

"The instalment scheme is great. Most farmers do not have the cash 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 assists us a lot. Our yields are excellent which indicates we can pay off the expense of the pump gradually in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school charges."

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

But such biofuel plans are appealing due to the fact that they create a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for earnings, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.

The simpleness of the model - easy-to-use, robust innovation, ensured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan - could help energize rural Africa, he stated.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives worldwide. The key problem is checking concepts and techniques in a collective fashion," stated Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the area must attempt and find out from this experiment. Financial institutions should begin explore loans to groups of farmers. International donors and investors 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, ladies's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, residential or commercial property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)