By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka believed it must be a joke when he was told he might irrigate his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, easily and effectively utilizing a pump sustained by cotton waste.

"Who could believe it's possible to make a fuel better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" chuckled Mathoka, crouching down to examine the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri town in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.

"But it works," he said, strolling over to a nearby tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get greater yields, specifically during drought periods."

Mathoka said his revenues had doubled in the two years he has been pumping water using biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre more affordable than regular diesel.

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

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

That implies that in addition to being cleaner and more affordable than routine fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels since no extra land is needed to produce it.

From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has actually driven forest neighborhoods off their land and pushed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more lucrative crops-for-fuel - worsening 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, managing director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based company producing the biodiesel.

"We started producing and utilizing it to power our cotton ginning factory in 2011. With increased production, we now use it for our trucks, offer it to the United Nations to run some of their buses - and also to local farmers for watering."

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have up until now invested in 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 ending up being commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rains.

The recurring dry spells are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the edge of severe hunger.

The variety of in need of food aid in March rose by almost 70 percent over a duration of eight months to 1.1 million, mostly due to poor rains, according to federal government figures.

With nearly half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a major scarcity of rain, humanitarian firms are alerting of increased hunger in the months ahead.

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

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

In Kitui's Kyuso location, the indications are currently obvious.

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

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

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

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui's farmers are fretted.

A little but growing number are shedding their problem of dependence on the weather - and investing in irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan launched more than three years back.

Neighbouring farmers band together 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 month-to-month instalments till the overall 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 permitted him to irrigate a bigger portion 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 3 months. With the biodiesel pump, I can earn 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 indicate the scheme as a significant benefit in assisting enhance their output.

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

"Having a plan like this helps us a lot. Our yields are excellent which means we can pay off the expense of the pump slowly in little amounts, and have money left over to pay the school charges."

Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early stages, with few farmers having repaid the complete cost of the pumps.

But such biofuel schemes are promising since 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, guaranteed supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan - might assist energize rural Africa, he stated.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy choices on the planet. The essential issue is evaluating ideas and techniques in a collaborative fashion," said Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the region need to attempt and find out from this experiment. Financial institutions need to begin explore loans to groups of farmers. International donors and financiers 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 environment change. Visit http://news.trust.org)