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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, 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 said, walking 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 durations."

Mathoka stated his earnings had actually doubled in the two 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 using is not just great news for him - it is also good news for the world.

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

That indicates that as well as being cleaner and more affordable than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels since 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 switch from crops-for-food to more rewarding crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food shortages.

"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, managing 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 utilize it for our trucks, offer 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 so far bought biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an effort launched by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate modification is taking a toll across east Africa and increasingly irregular weather is becoming commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.

The repeating dry spells are ruining crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing millions of individuals in the Horn of Africa to the edge of severe hunger.

The number of Kenyans in need of food aid in March rose by nearly 70 percent over a period of 8 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 cautioning of increased appetite in the months ahead.

"Only light rains is forecast through June ... and this is not expected to ease drought in affected areas of Kenya and Somalia," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its most current report.

"Well below-average crop production, bad livestock body conditions, and increased regional food prices are expected, which will minimize bad homes' access to food."

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

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

Villagers complain of travelling longer distances - often more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys loaded with empty jerry cans searching for water.

Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom are reliant on rain-fed agriculture, go over strategies to sell their goats to make ends satisfy 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 reliance on the weather - and investing in irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme launched more than 3 years back.

Neighbouring farmers unite to the irrigation system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes 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 monthly instalments until the total is settled. 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 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 3 months. With the biodiesel pump, I can make 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 point to the plan as a significant advantage in assisting improve their output.

"The instalment plan is excellent. Most farmers do not have the cash and can not easily get a loan to buy a pump like this," said 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 means we can settle the expense of the pump gradually in small quantities, and have money left over to pay the school fees."

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

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

The simpleness of the design - user friendly, robust innovation, guaranteed supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go plan - might help amaze rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices in the world. The key problem is evaluating concepts and techniques in a collaborative style," said Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the region should attempt and gain from this experiment. Banks need to start experimenting with 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, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights and climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)