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Cow dung patties selling like hot cakes online in India
NEW DELHI: With the holiday season in full swing, Indians are flocking to the online marketplace in droves. But there's one unusual item flying off the virtual shelves: Cow dung patties are selling like hot cakes.
While the patties — cow poop mixed with hay, made mainly by women in rural areas and used to fuel fires — have long been available in India's villages, online retailers including Amazon and eBay are now reaching out to the country's ever-increasing urban population.
Some retailers say they're offering discounts for large orders. Some customers are asking for gift wrapping.
In India, where Hindus worship cows as sacred, cow dung cakes have been used for centuries to fuel fires for cooking or Hindu rituals. Across rural India, piles of drying cow dung are ubiquitous.
Many Hindus regard the cow as the living symbol of their religion. Hindu welfare organisations run gaushalas, or cow shelters, in many cities where abandoned cows found wandering the streets are given food and shelter. Feeding a cow is seen by many Hindus as a way to appease the gods and get one’s wishes fulfilled.
Comments (37) Closed
We need to tap into this market guys. Its a win-win for us.
Nice...
natural gas, make great roti.
e commerce.
good export opportunity for Pakistani Punjab
In our part, we use it for the funeral pyre.Not only that it is cheaper, but will also save trees from being cut.
that's gonna be one stinky parcel
@Saad i think after it has dried it is bereft of any odour.
This is biofuel and must be encouraged
India knows how to modernise without loosing century old traditional values.
Actually this is a fuel of the future.
Cowdung and clay (easily available ,natural and cheap) with a little bit of cement (expensive) can make it into a kind of brick and can make cheap, durable and strong houses for the poor
It is being sold under Fertilizer section in Home needs category. Its is very useful for many people living in metro's cities like me who are unable to get this from villages for our plants in our house gardens.
O my god is this the 21 st century?
It's used with looban, which used to come from pak, the combination is good mosquito repellent. You burn çow dunk càke and put looban on it... Safe for kids rather than using poisonous mosquito killers....
@Haider I guess for you 21st century means use of western products even if the product offered by this part of world is cheap and does'nt offer any environmental hazards , isn't.
My village used to use this for mosquitoes in summer when I was little now no one own cows in my village due to gas.
funny business
Digital India...
We have the been practicing eco-friendly methods for centuries in Aisa which the West is only grasping/reverting back to now. Not all fast track modern methods are environmentally friendly which may take a generation or two realise the harm they cause!
@Haider In this 21st century, the focus should be on population control,environmental issues,renewable energy etc.High time to start recycling and making use of easily available raw materials.Better late than never. We shouldn't wait for the 'ant to sink the boat'
This is a age old fuel in Pak, India, Bangladesh.
Amazing to see even these things are getting sold online. the rural area is also getting digitized.
@AHA This is recycling at its best,the modern day environmentalism.More people should take the ways our earlier generation used to.Reuse,recycle and use refuse.
@Najma Hisham Agree
A good source of pollution
Any urban household with plants will need the dung to add to the soil of their garden/pots
50 years ago this was the only source of energy in my village in Pakistan and there are people who still use it as fuel for cooking and warming etc. Some day people will have to revert back to old age methods because the energy resources will shrink and will be insufficient to meet the needs of multiplying population.
Its good to live in Pakistan.....
Success of this business is good for cows too. Now, they are full of stomach.
business has no boundaries
Excellent source for baking vegetable/meat etc. which needs sloe and low temp fire. Often nawabi Delicacies were cooked only on heat fueled by dried ding patties. It burns slow and medium heat.
it can only happens in india :)
lol...all hail the mighty india
why are they asking for a gift wrap?
@kuttathi well said much better than burning wood. In most of Pakistan villages it is still used, people raise cattle n the dung is recycled in this way. Why cut trees
@Haider yes that's why it's available online. If you visit one of the villages in pak u ll not b so much surprised. If u want to be amazed Google about Amish Christians the way they still live in the most developed parts of the world
Once you have stopped laughing, consider this; dung is often used as organic manure. However, if used for salad vegetables, there's a serious risk of bovine e-coli poisoning. This can lead to outright epidemics.
Once the dung has been dried and burnt, it still makes for excellent manure. But without the risk of e-coli poisoning. As with all fires, will burn better if there's some means of forced convection. Needs to be completely dry as well.
Pressure cookers don't take too kindly to wood-fires. This is a great alternative, further economising on energy use and carbon-footprint.
This is our (Indian and Pakistani) shared legacy of rustic wisdom. Let's cherish, not diss it.