Scientists in Niger Republic have devised a means to new fertilisers and it’s low-cost, easily accessible and tested to be good. It’s human urine.
Researchers from the United Kingdom and Germany are combining Oga, sanitized urine with organic manure to increase the yield of crops in the country including cereals.
After being tested on farms between 2014 and 2016, a 30 per cent increase was recorded in comparison with farms that do not use fertilisers.
Farmers are however looking to making the smell less pungent as that’s their only complaint at the moment.
“The only problem is the odor is not exactly good.
“I always cover my nose whenever I apply urine and it is not a big problem,”
Niger is one of the countries with the highest number of food-insecure people in Africa as they face regular spells of droughts and dry harvests.
With majority of their farmers, 52% being women, they are primed towards having better yields in a country that’s facing the menace of food insecurity.
According to the UK Agro Consult, “To convince farmers to test and apply Oga, the project team encouraged farmers to combine Oga with organic wastes and dung in the first and second year of the project,’ the team shared in the study published in Agronomy for Sustainable Development.
A total of 159, 288 and 234 on-farm trials were conducted in the years 2014, 2015 and 2016.”
While the acceptance rate is still low in African countries, it is also a major thing in Shasha DR Congo where local boys are paid to take urine to farmers.
Malawian local farmers have also taken to this initiative and have been recording better yields.