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 water his drought-hit crops more cheaply, easily and efficiently utilizing 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!" 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 said, walking over to a close-by tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get higher yields, especially during dry spell durations."

Mathoka stated his earnings had actually doubled in the two years he has actually been pumping water utilizing biodiesel, which is both more efficient and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre less expensive than routine diesel.

The biodiesel he is utilizing is not just excellent news for him - it is also excellent 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 means that along with being cleaner and less expensive than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels due to the fact that 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 pressed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more rewarding crops-for-fuel - intensifying food shortages.

"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 using 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 local farmers for irrigation."

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have up until now purchased biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an initiative launched by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate modification is taking a toll across east Africa and significantly erratic 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 edge of extreme appetite.

The variety of Kenyans in requirement of food aid in March surged by almost 70 percent over a duration of eight months to 1.1 million, largely due to bad rains, according to government figures.

With nearly half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a serious shortage of rain, humanitarian agencies are warning of in the months ahead.

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

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

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

Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as an outcome of the extended dry spell.

Villagers suffer travelling longer ranges - sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys laden with empty jerry cans in search of water.

Small-scale farmers, many of whom are reliant on rain-fed agriculture, discuss strategies to offer their goats to make ends meet if the harvest is poor.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui's farmers are worried.

A little 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 launched more than 3 years ago.

Neighbouring farmers unite to buy the watering system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs beginning with 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.

The farmers make a preliminary 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, said the biodiesel pump allowed him to water 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," said Alex Babu Kitheka, standing near his plot in Ilangilo town, 40 km (25 miles) from Kitui town.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Other farmers point to the plan as a major benefit in assisting improve their output.

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

"Having a plan like this assists us a lot. Our yields are great which indicates we can settle the expense 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 few farmers having actually repaid the full cost of the pumps.

But such biofuel schemes are appealing because 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 simplicity of the design - easy-to-use, robust innovation, guaranteed supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme - could help energize rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives in the world. The crucial problem is checking ideas and methods in a collective style," said Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the region ought to try and find out from this experiment. Banks need to begin exploring 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 change. Visit http://news.trust.org)