By Nita Bhalla

KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka thought it should be a joke when he was informed he might water his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, easily and efficiently using a pump fuelled 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 inspect 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 big green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get higher yields, specifically during dry spell durations."

Mathoka said his earnings 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 routine diesel.

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

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

That indicates that along with being cleaner and less expensive 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 driven forest off their land and pushed farmers to switch from crops-for-food to more profitable crops-for-fuel - exacerbating food shortages.

"Our biodiesel originates from crushing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the process 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 using 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 a few of their buses - and also to local farmers for irrigation."

More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have up until now bought biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an effort launched by Zaynagro in 2015, stated Zavery.

DRY RIVER BEDS

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

The repeating droughts are destroying crops and pastures and are starving animals - pushing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the edge of severe hunger.

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

With practically half Kenya's 47 counties declared to have a serious shortage of rain, humanitarian firms are warning of increased cravings in the months ahead.

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

"Well below-average crop production, poor livestock body conditions, and increased regional food rates are prepared for, which will minimize bad 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 dry spell.

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

Small-scale farmers, most of whom depend on rain-fed farming, discuss strategies to sell their goats to make ends satisfy if the harvest is poor.

BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL

But not all Kitui's farmers are stressed.

A little but growing number are shedding their problem of dependence on the weather - and buying watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go scheme released more than 3 years earlier.

Neighbouring farmers band together to purchase the watering system - which includes the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipes and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses starting from 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.

The farmers make a preliminary payment, then pay interest-free regular monthly instalments up until 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 permitted him to irrigate a bigger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a range of veggies consisting of 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," said Alex Babu Kitheka, standing near his plot in Ilangilo town, 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 good. Most farmers do not have the money 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 helps us a lot. Our yields are excellent which indicates we can settle the expense of the pump gradually in percentages, and have money left over to pay the school costs."

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

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

The simpleness of the design - easy-to-use, robust innovation, assured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go plan - might help electrify rural Africa, he said.

"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy alternatives in the world. The key issue is checking ideas and methods in a collaborative fashion," stated Sanyal.

"Other cotton ginning factories in the region need to try and gain from this experiment. Banks need to begin try out loans to groups of farmers. International donors and financiers require 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, home rights and climate modification. Visit http://news.trust.org)