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Farmers Use Human Urine as Fertilizers, Pesticide
The Sunday Monitor - Uganda ^ | August 19, 2007 | By Joseph Mazige

Posted on 08/19/2007 6:15:30 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL

(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 28 days 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.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cool; diversityrocks; fertilizer; foodsafety; foodsupply; gross; pesticide; pesticides; uganda; urine; yummy
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1 posted on 08/19/2007 6:15:32 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
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To: JACKRUSSELL

That stuff burns out grass on the golf course.


2 posted on 08/19/2007 6:16:38 PM PDT by golfisnr1 (Democrats are like roaches - hard to get rid of.)
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To: JACKRUSSELL
"process is completed when the smell of ammonia becomes pervasive"

Sign me up for this program. I love the smell of ammonia.

/s

3 posted on 08/19/2007 6:18:01 PM PDT by Past Your Eyes (Criticize me if you will but just don't circumcise me any more.)
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To: JACKRUSSELL

Urine is also good to repel ants.


4 posted on 08/19/2007 6:18:16 PM PDT by neodad (USS Vincennes (CG-49) Freedom's Fortress)
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To: JACKRUSSELL

Same happens near a septic system. I hear it makes good crops.


5 posted on 08/19/2007 6:18:19 PM PDT by Orange1998
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To: JACKRUSSELL

We use processed sewage on fields in this country too. I think farmers are restricted to using it on crops fed to livestock.

When I was a teenager working on the farm I dreaded picking rocks out of the few fields the farmer sprayed the sewage on.


6 posted on 08/19/2007 6:18:27 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Greed is NOT a conservative ideal.)
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To: JACKRUSSELL
I have no idea if this is safe or not. But I am reminded that some of the food and some of the products that we import from other countries turn out to be less safe than we thought.

Buying American looks better and better.

7 posted on 08/19/2007 6:18:36 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The broken wall, the burning roof and tower. And Agammemnon dead.)
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To: golfisnr1
That stuff burns out grass on the golf course.

Hope you didn't 'sign your name' in the grass so they know who did it.

8 posted on 08/19/2007 6:19:12 PM PDT by capt. norm (Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for.)
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To: JACKRUSSELL

Master Gardener Jerry Baker has a number of garden “tonic” recipes that include the use of human urine.


9 posted on 08/19/2007 6:20:43 PM PDT by Gabz (Don't tell my mom I'm a lobbyist, she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse)
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To: JACKRUSSELL

Also traditionally used for the milling (fulling, waulking) of tweed cloth in Scotland.


10 posted on 08/19/2007 6:21:15 PM PDT by sionnsar (trad-anglican.faithweb.com |Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: golfisnr1

That’s why they let it “ferment” for 28 days. ;-)


11 posted on 08/19/2007 6:22:52 PM PDT by NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
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To: JACKRUSSELL

Ancient Rome used urine to clean clothes. That’s how they got their garments so white. They even had public places in the center of Rome to collect the urine.


12 posted on 08/19/2007 6:22:52 PM PDT by RC2
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To: JACKRUSSELL

In colonial times...the straw from the stables was used in the production of gun powder...


13 posted on 08/19/2007 6:23:07 PM PDT by TASMANIANRED (Taz Struck By Lightning Faces Battery Charge)
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To: sionnsar

I’ve read that urine was a common ingredient in Roman laundry.


14 posted on 08/19/2007 6:23:08 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Greed is NOT a conservative ideal.)
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To: ClearCase_guy
I have no idea if this is safe or not.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket My understanding is it's quite sterile. Many generations of Gaels survived pounding (by hand) newly-woven tweedcloth soaked in this with no apparent ill effects. (It does not appear to be linked to Bagpipe Affinity Syndrome.)

15 posted on 08/19/2007 6:25:33 PM PDT by sionnsar (trad-anglican.faithweb.com |Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: JACKRUSSELL

Welcome to the 21st century, folks.


16 posted on 08/19/2007 6:38:08 PM PDT by bill1952 ("All that we do is done with an eye towards something else.")
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To: JACKRUSSELL

Who leaked this? I am pissed off. This whole article is a piss poor argument. If this catches on we can expect agribusiness to sing “Urine the Money”.


17 posted on 08/19/2007 6:43:11 PM PDT by Delacon
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To: sionnsar
3 cheers for urine

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

HIP HIP URINE

HIP HIP URINE

HIP HIP URINE!!!
18 posted on 08/19/2007 6:46:52 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Greed is NOT a conservative ideal.)
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To: Delacon

>> Who leaked this? I am pissed off. This whole article is a piss poor argument. If this catches on we can expect agribusiness to sing “Urine the Money”.

Why did you piss away four good posts in one shot?


19 posted on 08/19/2007 6:48:13 PM PDT by Nervous Tick
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To: sionnsar

>> My understanding is it’s quite sterile.

Yeah, if you have bacteria (or blood) in your bladder, something’s wrong with you.


20 posted on 08/19/2007 6:49:23 PM PDT by Nervous Tick
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