By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka believed it should be a joke when he was informed he might water his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, easily and efficiently using a pump fuelled by cotton waste.

"Who could believe it's possible to make a fuel 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 village 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 actually assisted me get higher yields, especially during dry spell durations."

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

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

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

That suggests that in addition to being cleaner and more affordable than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels since no extra land is required to produce it.

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

"Our biodiesel comes from squashing 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 utilize it for our trucks, sell it to the United Nations to run some 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 irrigation as part of an effort launched by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate modification is taking a toll throughout east Africa and increasingly unpredictable weather is becoming commonplace in such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rainfall.

The recurring droughts are ruining crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless individuals in the Horn of Africa to the verge of extreme appetite.

The variety of Kenyans in requirement of food help in March rose by nearly 70 percent over a duration of eight months to 1.1 million, mainly due to bad rains, according to federal government figures.

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

"Only light rains is anticipated through June ... and this is not anticipated to ease dry spell in impacted areas 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 lower poor 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 prolonged drought.

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

Small-scale farmers, the majority 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 fretted.

A little but growing number are shedding their burden of dependence on the weather - and buying irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan launched more than three years ago.

Neighbouring farmers band together to invest in the irrigation system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs 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 overall is paid off. They buy the biodiesel to run the pumps from Zaynagro at 80 shillings a litre.

Farmer Alex Babu Kitheka, 39, said the biodiesel pump permitted him to irrigate a bigger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a variety of vegetables 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," stated 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 advantage in helping improve their output.

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

"Having a plan like this helps us a lot. Our yields are excellent which suggests we can settle the cost of the pump gradually in small quantities, and have money left over to pay the school charges."

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

But such biofuel schemes are promising since they create a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for revenue, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.

The simpleness of the design - easy-to-use, robust innovation, assured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go plan - might help energize rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options worldwide. The essential concern is testing ideas and techniques in a collective style," stated Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the area need to try and gain from this experiment. Financial organizations need to start 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, females's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, home rights and climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)