By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it must be a joke when he was informed he could water his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, cleanly 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!" laughed Mathoka, crouching down to inspect 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 neighboring tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get greater yields, particularly throughout dry spell durations."

Mathoka said his profits had doubled in the 2 years he has 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 using is not just good news for him - it is also excellent news for the world.

Unlike many 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 routine 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 actually driven forest communities off their land and pushed farmers to change 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 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 a few of their buses - and also to regional farmers for irrigation."

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have actually up until now purchased biodiesel pumps for watering 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 significantly irregular weather condition is becoming commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rainfall.

The repeating droughts are ruining crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing countless individuals in the Horn of Africa to the verge of severe hunger.

The variety of Kenyans in requirement of food aid in March surged by nearly 70 percent over a duration of 8 months to 1.1 million, mostly due to poor rains, according to federal government figures.

With practically half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a serious lack of rain, humanitarian firms are alerting of increased appetite in the months ahead.

"Only light rainfall is anticipated through June ... and this is not anticipated to ease dry spell in impacted locations of Kenya and Somalia," said 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 expected, which will decrease bad households' access to food."

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

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

Villagers suffer travelling longer ranges - sometimes more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys loaded with empty jerry cans looking for water.

Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom depend on rain-fed agriculture, go over strategies to sell their goats to make ends meet if the harvest is bad.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui's farmers are stressed.

A little but growing number are shedding their concern of dependence on the weather - and purchasing irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan released more than 3 years ago.

Neighbouring farmers band together to purchase the irrigation system - which includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses beginning from 32,000 shillings, depending upon the size of the pump.

The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free regular monthly instalments till the overall is settled. They buy 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 veggies 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 town, 40 km (25 miles) from Kitui town.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

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

"The instalment plan is excellent. Most farmers don't 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 scheme like this assists us a lot. Our yields are great which means 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 repaid the complete cost of the pumps.

But such biofuel plans are promising 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 design - user friendly, robust innovation, assured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan - could assist energize rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives worldwide. The crucial concern is checking ideas and approaches in a collaborative style," said Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the region should try and find out from this experiment. Financial organizations need to begin 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, ladies's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)