By Nita Bhalla

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

"Who could think it's possible to make a fuel much better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" chuckled Mathoka, bending 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, walking over to a neighboring tree and a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get greater yields, specifically during drought periods."

Mathoka stated his incomes had doubled in the 2 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 simply excellent news for him - it is also excellent news for the planet.

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

That indicates that in addition to being cleaner and more affordable than routine 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 pushed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more lucrative crops-for-fuel - intensifying food scarcities.

"Our biodiesel comes from squashing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the procedure of separating the seeds from raw cotton," stated 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 utilize 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 so far invested in biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an effort released by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

Climate change is taking a toll across east Africa and increasingly irregular weather is becoming commonplace in countries such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rainfall.

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

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

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

"Only light rainfall is forecast through June ... and this is not expected to reduce drought in affected 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 local food prices are prepared for, which will reduce poor families' access to food."

In Kitui's Kyuso location, the signs are already apparent.

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

Villagers grumble of trekking longer distances - in some cases more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys laden with empty jerry cans in search of water.

Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom depend on rain-fed farming, 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 worried.

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

Neighbouring farmers band together to buy the watering system - that includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at costs starting 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 until the overall is settled. They buy 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 water a larger 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 three months. With the biodiesel pump, I can earn 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 indicate the scheme as a significant advantage in assisting enhance their output.

"The instalment scheme is great. 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 beside his blue biodiesel pump.

"Having a scheme like this helps us a lot. Our yields are good which indicates we can pay off the cost of the pump gradually in percentages, and have cash left over to pay the school charges."

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

But such biofuel plans are promising since they produce a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for earnings, stated Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.

The simpleness of the model - easy-to-use, robust technology, guaranteed supply of biodiesel integrated with a pay-as-you-go plan - could help amaze rural Africa, he stated.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives worldwide. The essential problem is evaluating ideas and methods in a collaborative style," stated Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the area should try and discover from this experiment. Banks need to begin experimenting with 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, females's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, residential or commercial property rights and environment modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)