India’s state-funded Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI) in western Jodhpur, one of the biggest research institutes in the agricultural sector plans to sell urine from Indian cow Tharparkar at INR 30 (less than half a dollar) per litre.
According to researchers at the institute, cow urine has an excess of nitrogen and could be used as organic manure. Likewise, cow urine can also keep insects from harming crops because of the presence of ammonia in it.
“Our study has shown that cow urine enhances soil fertility and can be turned into liquid fertiliser as a pesticide. The cow urine liquid manure is easy to use for plants as compared to the chemical one", said Subhash Kuchhwaha, scientist at CAZRI.
Kuchhwaha further said despite knowing the medicinal and anti-insecticide characteristics of cow urine, it was not being used extensively.
“The farmers instead use costly and harmful chemicals in farms due to the lack of awareness. We are going to sell the urine at INR 30 (less than half a dollar) per litre so that more and more farmers can buy it", Kuchhwaha said.
At prsent, CAZRI is planning to collect 100-150 litres of cow urine daily and has set up a storage system of up to 400 litres.
“We have 26 cows and 46 calves at the centre and we will be aiming to increase the production up to 1,000 litres per day. While the main task before us would be to spread awareness on the use of cow urine in farms", said Kuchhwaha.
