We all have heard of and seen blood banks, but ever thought of a urine bank? We know you may think of it as a gross idea but not. India is planning to set up urine banks in the rural areas and it is an idea that should’ve been implemented long back. The current Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, Nitin Gadkari proposed this idea of setting up urine banks in the rural areas of the country. This move will reduce urea imports, as we will be producing it within the country itself.

Urea makes for an excellent fertilizer with high nitrogen content. At a time when even the cost of fertilizers are rising, it is only beneficial if we can produce them on a larger scale, thus reducing the export costs. By setting up urine banks, we can extract urea and provide it readily to the farmers. We as a country sustain on agriculture. A Bloomberg report states us as the world’s second-biggest consumer of urea. So, the imports of urea as well as other nitrogenous based alternative fertilizers have been high.

In fact, in countries like Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, China use urine as a liquid fertilizer in their farms. The plan is in the nascent stage right now. The government will provide cans to the farmers who will turn it to the set-up urine banks for the further processing.

When the minister announced this idea, several people made of it thinking it to be very gross. But it is actually a very good move to switch to using and utilizing natural fertilizers. The Indian government has been looking at ways to reduce urea imports in the next few years. So, if the planned urine banks do come into effect then we would very well achieve it.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 08, 2018 01:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).