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 cheaply, cleanly and effectively using a pump fuelled by cotton waste.

"Who could believe it's possible to make a fuel much better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" laughed Mathoka, crouching 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 nearby tree and plucking a big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has actually assisted me get higher yields, specifically during dry spell durations."

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

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

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

That implies that in addition to being cleaner and cheaper than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels because 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 - worsening food shortages.

"Our biodiesel originates from squashing 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 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, sell 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 actually so far invested in biodiesel pumps for watering as part of an effort introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate change is taking a toll throughout east Africa and increasingly erratic weather condition is becoming commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, resulting in lower rainfall.

The repeating droughts are damaging crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the brink of severe appetite.

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

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

"Only light rains is forecast through June ... and this is not anticipated to ease dry spell in impacted areas of Kenya and Somalia," stated the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its newest report.

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

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

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

Villagers complain of travelling longer distances - in some cases more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans looking for water.

Small-scale farmers, many of whom depend on rain-fed farming, talk about plans 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 burden of reliance on the weather condition - and investing in irrigation systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan introduced more than three years ago.

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

The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free month-to-month instalments till the total is settled. They purchase the biodiesel to run the pumps from Zaynagro at 80 shillings a litre.

Farmer Alex Babu Kitheka, 39, said the biodiesel pump enabled him to irrigate a larger portion of his 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 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 indicate the plan as a major advantage in helping enhance their output.

"The instalment scheme is good. Most farmers don't have the cash and can not quickly 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 plan like this assists us a lot. Our yields are good which indicates we can pay off the expense of the pump gradually in little quantities, and have money left over to pay the school charges."

Zaynagro's effort is still in its early stages, with couple of farmers having actually paid back the complete expense of the pumps.

But such biofuel plans are appealing due to the fact that they develop a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for revenue, stated Sanjoy Sanyal, senior associate for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.

The simpleness of the design - easy-to-use, robust technology, ensured supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go scheme - might assist electrify rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives on the planet. The key issue is evaluating concepts and approaches in a collaborative fashion," said Sanyal.

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