By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it should be a joke when he was told he could irrigate his drought-hit crops more cheaply, easily and efficiently utilizing 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, crouching 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 said, strolling over to a neighboring tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has assisted me get higher yields, specifically during dry spell periods."

Mathoka stated his profits had doubled in the 2 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 utilizing is not just excellent news for him - it is also great news for the world.

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

That suggests that as well as being cleaner and less expensive than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels since no additional land is required to produce it.

From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has actually driven forest communities off their land and pressed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more rewarding crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food shortages.

"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, 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 regional farmers for irrigation."

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have up until now invested in biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an effort released by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

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

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

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

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

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

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

In Kitui's Kyuso area, the indications are already obvious.

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

Villagers experience travelling longer ranges - 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 depend on rain-fed agriculture, talk about plans to offer their goats to make ends satisfy if the harvest is poor.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui's farmers are worried.

A little however growing number are shedding their problem of reliance on the weather condition - and purchasing watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan launched more than three years back.

Neighbouring farmers unite to buy 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 upon the size of the pump.

The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month instalments up until the overall 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 him to irrigate a bigger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a range 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 make 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 significant advantage in helping enhance their output.

"The instalment plan is good. Most farmers don't have the money and can not quickly get a loan to purchase 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 good which implies we can settle the cost of the pump slowly in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school fees."

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

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

The simpleness of the design - easy-to-use, robust innovation, ensured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme - could assist energize rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices worldwide. The key problem is evaluating concepts and methods in a collective fashion," stated Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the area should try and find out from this experiment. Financial organizations must 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, home rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)