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By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it must be a joke when he was told he could water 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 much 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, walking over to a neighboring tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually assisted me get higher yields, particularly throughout drought durations."

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

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

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

That means 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 driven forest communities off their land and pressed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more rewarding crops-for-fuel - intensifying food lacks.

"Our biodiesel comes from crushing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the procedure of separating the seeds from raw cotton," said Taher Zavery, handling director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based business 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, sell it to the United Nations to run a few of their buses - and likewise to regional farmers for irrigation."

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have so far bought biodiesel pumps for watering 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 progressively erratic weather is ending up being commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rains.

The repeating dry spells are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing countless individuals in the Horn of Africa to the brink of extreme appetite.

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

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

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

"Well below-average crop production, poor livestock body conditions, and increased regional food rates are anticipated, which will decrease poor households' access to food."

In location, the signs are already obvious.

Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the extended drought.

Villagers grumble of trekking longer distances - often more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans looking for water.

Small-scale farmers, many of whom are reliant on rain-fed farming, talk about 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 fretted.

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

Neighbouring farmers band together to purchase the watering system - which consists of the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs beginning with 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.

The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free regular monthly instalments up until the total is paid off. 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 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 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 indicate the scheme as a major benefit in helping improve 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," said Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood next to his blue biodiesel pump.

"Having a scheme like this assists us a lot. Our yields are excellent which suggests we can pay off the cost of the pump gradually in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school costs."

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

But such biofuel schemes are appealing since they produce 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 simpleness of the model - easy-to-use, robust technology, guaranteed supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan - might assist energize rural Africa, he stated.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives worldwide. The key concern is testing concepts and approaches in a collaborative fashion," stated Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the region must try and gain from this experiment. Banks should start explore 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, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights and environment change. Visit http://news.trust.org)