The Visakha Agency is witnessing a surge in the demand for cow urine as more farmers in this tribal belt are switching over to community managed natural farming (CMNF).
Cow urine plays a key role in accelerating the natural and bio-active process of regenerating life in soils and this is prompting the farmers to shift to natural farming, after a pilot project of collecting cow urine in bulk has proved to be a success at Gurrampanuku and Killoguda villages in Paderu and Modaghara in the limits of Seethampeta Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA).
The pilot project were undertaken with the support of Watershed Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN), in collaboration with the Azim Premji Foundation that invested in the project and Raithu Sadhikara Samstha (RYSS) that conducts field trials of various crops.
“Collecting cow urine in bulk was a major hindrance for the CMNF due to seepage into soils, cracks in the floors of cowsheds and inappropriate collection practice. We have provided solutions to these problems after a thorough research,” M.L. Sanyasi Rao, Regional Program Manager of the WASSAN, told The Hindu.
Bulk collection process
The pilot project was launched at Gurrampanuku in December 2020. Eight cowsheds were connected through a pipeline after the floor of each shed was made leak proof. A floor was given a gradient so that the urine flows into the pipeline connected to a tank of a storage capacity of 2,400 litres. The main tank has a blender and after 72 hours of blending, the liquid moves to another tank equipped with filtering facility. The entrepreneur can get ‘Jeevamrutham’, at the end of the process.
At Gurrampanuku, the farmers have eight cowsheds housing 41 cows and on an average, they collect over eight litres of urine per day, which can be scaled up to 500 litres per month.
Mr. Sanyasi Rao said that the requirement of ‘Jeevamrutham’ for 50 acres is around 10,000 litres per year. For preparing 10,000 litres of ‘Jeevamrutham’, about 500 litres of cow urine is needed. The farmers can now become entrepreneurs by selling the produce of the remaining 11 months, he said.
This year, the farmers are able to cater to the demands of 300 farmers in 10 villages, he said.
