Ish, Uganda seconds that:
monitor.co.ug
Farmers use human urine as fertilizers, pesticide
JOSEPH MAZIGE
MAYUGE
If you are a farmer, you may want to think twice about flushing your urine down the toilet. Urine may be a waste product but it also has many uses, and the best part of it is that it comes with no price tag.
Farmers in various parts of the country use human urine as fertilizers and to fight crop diseases. The method started in Baitambogwe Village in Mayuge District but has now spread to over 21 districts. Through knowledge sharing via telephone Short Message System commonly known as SMS, farmers in Baitambogwe are propagating the method to their counterparts in various parts of the country.
"We no longer waste urine in our homes. Each member of the family is allocated a tin every night where she/he urinates then in the morning we pour it into a big container and ferment it for 28 days," said Mary Batwaweela in a recent interview. After that period (28 days), the urine, according to Ms Batwaweela, is then mixed with water at a ration of 1:1 and taken to the gardens and poured in rows so that the plant can feed on it from the soil.
The aim is to increase soil fertility so that the crop can have the necessary nutrients. As a result, the soil remains fertile and crops can be grown all year round supported by watering (irrigation). "You don't have to pour it directly on the plant because it will burn," she explained.
Ms Batwaweela said urine can also be used for spraying bananas against wilt. Before spraying her banana plantation, Ms Batwaweela mixes one jerry can of water with a jerry can of urine together with ash and red pepper. "I don't have money to buy the expensive chemicals so that is what I use. It is very effective and my bananas are doing well," she said.
The farmers are organised under the Busoga Rural Organisation for Development Initiatives (Brosdi). Brosdi gives a platform for rural farmers and facilitates them in areas of improving livelihoods.
At least 500 farmers countrywide are using the method to get high yields that has transformed their livelihoods. Fermented human urine can also be mixed with animal waste to make a paste, which acts as soil fertilizer. When planting a banana sucker, the paste is mixed with coffee husks and poured in the hole before planting.
In Mexico, human urine is fermented by placing one litre of urine in a container and adding a spoonful of black soil. It is left to sit for 28days and the process is completed when the smell of ammonia becomes pervasive and colour changes from yellow to dark brown, making it ready for use in gardens. |
