Night soil helps Pune villagers earn money

Pune – Despite government’s effort to stop open defecation, people in Khed taluka of Pune district preferred defecating in the open. Even if some did use the toilets there was no one to empty them and thus it was wasted.

IAS officer Ayush Prasad, Deputy Collector of Khed taluka came up with an organic solution which changed the lives of villagers. The waste collected in the toilet pits was to be covered with a lid and left for few months, which would turn it into night soil, tea powder like substance, which can then be collected manually and would not breach abolition on manual scavenging as it would be just manure.

The IAS officer said that “In some rural areas, there is an inertia towards using toilets. Moreover, with a ban on manual scavenging, getting toilets pits emptied is a task”

Prasad approached the Directorate of Onion and Garlic Research (DOGR) earlier this year to test the collected night soil. And the results showed a positive outcome. Not only was the night soil able to grow onions fit for consumption, but it also gave nine per cent more yield than chemical fertilisers and 47% more yield than organic manure!

Prasad realised that if he promoted the concept of commercially exploiting night soil, locals could be motivated to use toilets so that their pits would fill faster. Also, once the pits filled to the brim are left unused for a few months, clearing them does not fall under scavenging.

The main task was that how to convince the villagers. So he approached the IAS officers Indira Aswar(Block Development Officer, and the head of the Maharashtra State Rural Livelihoods Mission) and Sonali Avchat( block co-ordinator of MSRLM).

Both the officers convinced the villagers to clean the pits to earn a living. They said that the women wanted income but their mind was not ready to clean human waste. So the civil servants took them to some toilet pits which had been lying unused and filled to the brim. They showed them that what lay inside was nothing but a tea powder-like substance. And also emptied the pits with their hands to help build confidence.

Durga Nangre, the head of the self-help group working on the project said, “A lot of women felt that clearing toilets is a job for scavengers, not farmers. There were concerns about hygiene. But, over time, the government officials visiting us addressed all of them.”

The night soil collected was also bought by multi-national corporations like Mahindra & Mahindra. MNC’s need this night soil for their gardens in Pune city and the self-help groups in villages do their business. Each pit gives about 80 kg of night soil and is sold at Rs 20 per kilo.

“Our first order of 5,000 kg worth Rs 1 lakh from Mahindra & Mahindra has given us a boost, and all the groups are energised,” says Prasad.

Prasad’s one organic thought to empower and change the mindset of villagers of defecating in the open killed two birds:

-the problem of open defecation in the village and

-the problem of employment and income also was solved.

Not only that, but it would also set an example to other regions like these and empower them as well.