Collecting urine near Paris

Cover image: Bruno Rakedjian empties his 5-litre container of urine, collected at home, into the larger 150-litre container, which the farmer will come and empty a couple of times a month. © Cecile Pompeani/RFI

As French farmers bear the brunt of soaring fertiliser prices – driven by the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz – there's growing interest in homegrown fertilisers. Bruno Rakedjian is one of 20 members of Les Radis Actifs, a community veg scheme on the outskirts of Paris in Châtillon, taking part in an agricultural research project run by Ocapi. When collecting his weekly veg, he drops off his urine, which their organic farmer uses to help his hedgerows grow.