Effects of urine and hygienized feces on cocoa production in the village of Blanfla (Bouafle, Côte d'Ivoire)

Abstract

Ecological sanitation involves the use of hygienized human excreta as fertilizer in agriculture. This study aimed to establish the effects of hygienized urine and feces on cocoa production in the village of Blanfla in the Bouaflé Department of Côte d'Ivoire. To this end, 539 people from 100 households were trained in the use of urine-diverting dry toilets (UDDTs) and in fertilizing cocoa plantations with hygienized excreta from UDDTs. The study ran from 2014 to 2017, during which time 6 months were spent building the TSDUs and 1.5 months were monitoring their use. For 2 years, three categories of plantations (young, mature and old) with a total surface area of 285 ha were fertilized by the application of almost 445 m3 of urine and 100 tonnes of hygienized feces. The quantity of biofertilizer applied to the three groups of plantations almost doubled the annual cocoa production (RP=1.95). In all three plantation categories, crop production was significantly associated with BF application (r = 0.993; p = 0.007/r = 0.975; p = 0.025) but not with temperature or rainfall. The use of hygienized urine and feces as biofertilizers through the ecological sanitation approach should be popularized, as it increases agricultural productivity and farmer incomes.