Fertilizer made from human urine has increased harvest by 30% in Niger.
The sanitized human urine called by locals as “Oga,” or “The Boss,” has been approved for use after consultation with religious leaders and medical experts after researchers from the National Institute of Agricultural Research of Niger conducted farm trials using a sanitized urine product.
The study found that crops fertilized with the urine have enjoyed a 30% increase in harvest as a group of Niger women volunteered to use the urine product.
Ali Aminou, Director of the Federation of Maradi Farmers’ Union said that they “learned about what farmers are doing in Asia, where they use cow urine fertilize.”
“Since some of the farmers here don’t have cows, we thought, ‘Why not use human urine?’ That was the question: ‘Why not?'”
Sanitized human urine is considered a cheaper alternative to commercial fertilizer in areas suffering from severe drought or where fertilizer is too expensive and researchers conducted 681 trials from 2014 to 2017 and found that those who used Oga harvested an average of 30% more yield for their crops.
