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posted by hubie on Wednesday June 22 2022, @04:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the better-pea-yield dept.

Testing the use of human urine as a natural fertilizer for crops:

Humans have known for thousands of years that their urine is an excellent fertilizer for crops. It contains phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium—many of the same ingredients as commercial fertilizers. But because of the squeamishness associated with using urine to grow crops, its use has been limited. [...]

The first step in the experiment involved renaming urine because its common name was considered offensive. They settled on Oga. Next, they separated the farmers into two groups; one ran their farms in the traditional way, the other fertilized their wheat using Oga. Over two growing seasons, crop yields were measured for both groups. The Oga for the second group of 27 farmers was provided by the farmers themselves, who were taught how to pasteurize, store and dilute their urine for use as fertilizer. They also added small amounts of animal manure.

The data collected from the farms showed that those that had been fertilized using Oga produced on average 30% more grain than the traditional farms. The researchers note that the differences were so great that other women in the region began emulating those in the experiment. Two years after the experiment, they found that more than a thousand women farmers were using Oga to fertilize their crops.

Journal Reference:
Moussa, Hannatou O., Nwankwo, Charles I., Aminou, Ali M., et al. Sanitized human urine (Oga) as a fertilizer auto-innovation from women farmers in Niger [open], Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 2022. DOI: 10.1007/s13593-021-00675-2


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 22 2022, @05:02PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 22 2022, @05:02PM (#1255400)

    Yeah, whatever. I'd stay and argue with you, but I have to go take an Oga.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 22 2022, @08:37PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 22 2022, @08:37PM (#1255448)

    "...but I have to go take..."

    I don't understand why I'm the only person I know who leaves them but everyone else takes them. You can have 'em. I'm trying to rid myself of waste, not collect it. ;)