Sanitized human urine used as fertilizer in Niger, increased harvest by 30%

Farmers in Niger have started using sanitized human urine as fertilizer for their crops.

Called by locals as "Oga," or "The Boss," sanitized human urine has been approved for use after consultation with religious leaders and medical experts.

A study found that crops fertilized with the urine have enjoyed a 30% increase in harvest.

"We learned about what farmers are doing in Asia, where they use cow urine fertilizer," said Ali Aminou, Director of the Federation of Maradi Farmers' Union. 

"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.

"When they first told us about using our urine as fertilizer, we thought that was impossible!" said a local farmer. "Now we see that the technology works so we are applying it ourselves on our own farms."

—MGP, GMA News