By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka believed it must be a joke when he was informed he might water his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, 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, 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 said, strolling over to a close-by tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get higher yields, particularly during drought durations."

Mathoka said his incomes had actually doubled in the 2 years he has been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre less expensive than routine diesel.

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

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

That implies that along with being cleaner and cheaper 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 neighborhoods off their land and pressed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more - worsening food lacks.

"Our biodiesel comes from squashing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the procedure of separating the seeds from raw cotton," said Taher Zavery, managing director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based company producing the biodiesel.

"We began 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 some of their buses - and also to regional farmers for watering."

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have so far invested in biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an initiative launched by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate change is taking a toll throughout east Africa and progressively unpredictable weather is ending up being commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.

The repeating dry spells are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless individuals in the Horn of Africa to the edge of extreme appetite.

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

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

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

"Well below-average crop production, bad animals body conditions, and increased regional food rates are prepared for, which will decrease bad households' access to food."

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

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

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

Small-scale farmers, many of whom are reliant on rain-fed farming, talk about strategies to offer their goats to make ends fulfill if the harvest is bad.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui's farmers are worried.

A small however growing number are shedding their concern of dependence on the weather - and investing in watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan released more than three years earlier.

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

The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free monthly instalments 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, stated the biodiesel pump enabled him to irrigate a larger 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 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 point to the scheme as a significant benefit in assisting enhance their output.

"The instalment scheme is great. Most farmers do not have the cash and can not quickly get a loan to buy 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 excellent which means we can pay off the cost of the pump gradually in percentages, and have cash left over to pay the school fees."

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

But such biofuel schemes are promising due to the fact that they develop 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 model - user friendly, robust technology, assured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go scheme - could help energize rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options in the world. The crucial concern is evaluating concepts and approaches in a collective style," stated Sanyal.

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