Cow Urine Turns Into A Business Opportunity In Uttar Pradesh, Costs ₹10 A Litre

Lucknow: Cow urine, long treated as a byproduct of cattle rearing, is being turned into a potential source of rural income in Uttar Pradesh, with a pilot project in Bulandshahr now buying it from farmers and cattle owners at Rs 10 a litre.

The initiative, being implemented through a farmer producer organisation (FPO), is being positioned as a new business model that links cow protection with rural employment, women's incomes and natural farming. If the experiment succeeds, the model could be expanded to other parts of the state.

The pilot is currently operational across 15 villages in the Siyana area of Bulandshahr. About 500 litres of cow urine is being collected every day through village-level collection centres. The organisers are also considering increasing the procurement price to Rs 20 a litre as the network expands.

The project, led by Dr Praveen through an FPO in Narsena village, has installed tanks with a capacity of 200 litres at collection points. The arrangement allows cattle owners to sell cow urine within their villages instead of transporting it elsewhere.

The business model does not stop at procurement. The collected urine is being mixed with herbs to prepare products that are promoted for use in farming. These products are supplied to farmers through local committees, creating a potential value chain from cattle sheds to agricultural fields.

The initiative also has a strong women-centric component. Around 300 women have been brought into the project as shareholders. Women involved in collecting cow urine are paid a commission of Rs 2 per litre, providing them with an additional source of income without requiring them to leave their villages.

For cattle-owning households, the idea is to create an income stream beyond milk. Traditionally, the economics of cattle rearing in rural areas has largely depended on milk and dairy products. The project seeks to give monetary value to another product generated by cattle, potentially making cattle rearing more financially viable.

The promoters argue that regular procurement of cow urine could also create an economic incentive for cattle owners to maintain their animals. The larger objective is to make cow protection less dependent on subsidies or charity and link it with an income-generating rural economy.

Shyam Bihari Gupta, chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Cow Service Commission, said the Bulandshahr experiment could become a model combining cow protection, rural employment, women's empowerment and natural farming.

According to the organisers, the products prepared from cow urine and herbs are intended for agricultural use and are being promoted as alternatives to chemical-based farm inputs. They claim these products are chemical-free and help crop growth.

The commercial potential of the model, however, will depend on whether a sustainable market can be created for these products and whether the collection and processing network can operate profitably beyond the pilot villages.

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For now, the experiment has given cow urine a price tag in rural Uttar Pradesh. At Rs 10 a litre, and potentially Rs 20 in the future, what was once considered a waste product is being tested as a commodity that can generate income for cattle owners and employment for rural women.

If scaled up, the initiative could create a new rural supply chain in which cattle rearing produces income not only through milk but also through the collection, processing and sale of cow urine-based agricultural products.