The July 2012 issue of the New Agriculturist features a story about the "honey-suckers" of Bengaluru, which is based on a case study published by IRC. In Bengaluru in southern India, tanker drivers known as honey-suckers provide a valuable sanitation service, collecting faecal sludge from households not served by the sewerage network.
Published on: 05/07/2012
The July 2012 issue of the New Agriculturist features a story about the "honey-suckers" of Bengaluru, which is based on a case study published by IRC.
In Bengaluru in southern India, tanker drivers known as honey-suckers provide a valuable sanitation service, collecting faecal sludge from households not served by the sewerage network. Much of this is used to fertilise crops on surrounding farmland. Formalising this system would enhance the benefits while addressing safety concerns.
The New Agriculturist article looks at how these safety concerns could be addressed and health standards enforced. Formal recognition of the honey-suckers should be the first priority, says researcher Elisabeth Kvarnström in the article. Such recognition could lead to more funds for improving the honey-sucker system, which Kvarnström says would be much more cost effective than extending the sewerage network.
IRC and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) supported the original case study. IRC first the presented the study at the Asia Regional Sanitation and Hygiene Practitioners Workshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh at the beginning of 2012 and later in the form of an IRC webinar. The case study text, Power Point presentation and webinar video are available on the IRC web site.
New Agriculturist is a WRENmedia on-line magazine in English and French on international agricultural issues. Established in 1998, the magazine has over 200,000 readers.
Read the New Agriculturist story on their web site.
