Syana’s Cow Urine Dairy Project: How Dr Praveen Rana Is Turning Cow Urine Into a Rural Income Opportunity in UP
A small but unusual rural business model in Syana tehsil of Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, is drawing attention for linking cow urine procurement with natural farming, organic inputs and additional farmer income. The initiative is associated with agricultural scientist Dr Praveen Rana, who has been working on products made from cow urine and cow dung.
However, the available reporting does not independently establish that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has formally approved a statewide “model” project. What is confirmed is that Dr Rana’s work has received recognition from the Uttar Pradesh government, while cow-urine collection centres operated by women’s groups have been functioning in villages around Narsena.
The story is therefore less about a government-wide dairy scheme and more about whether a local circular rural-economy model can be scaled successfully.
What is happening in Syana?
The initiative is based around Narsena in the Syana area of Bulandshahr. According to reports, women’s groups in several villages collect cow urine from households involved in cattle rearing and take it to collection centres.
The collected material is then supplied to a farmer-producer organisation/company associated with Dr Praveen Rana, where it is used in the preparation of organic fertilisers and agricultural products.
Reports from December 2024 said the urine was being purchased at roughly ₹10–₹20 per litre, depending on its measured gravity. In some cases, farmers were reported to be generating an additional ₹100–₹200 per day from cow urine alongside milk income.
This creates a simple economic chain:
Cattle owner → village collection centre → processing → organic farm inputs → farmer
The idea is to extract economic value from something that would otherwise have little direct market value.
Who is Dr Praveen Rana?
Dr Praveen Rana, based in Narsena, has a background in agricultural research and has worked on natural farming and cow-based agricultural inputs.
According to Hindustan, he holds a PhD in agriculture and left a well-paying job to work on natural farming. His work includes developing organic fertilisers and pesticides using cow urine and cow dung.
His initiative has also received government recognition. In December 2025, Rana was reported to have received the state-level first prize for natural farming during a farmer honour programme in Lucknow, along with a certificate and ₹75,000 prize.
That recognition is important because it shows that his natural-farming work has received official attention. But it should not be confused with evidence of a formal statewide government procurement programme.
How much money can farmers actually make?
The economics are potentially meaningful at the household level, but the figures should be viewed as reported examples rather than guaranteed income.
A 2023 report said farmers in Narsena were selling cow urine for around ₹10–₹15 per litre, while another 2024 report put the reported range at ₹10–₹20 depending on gravity.
One reported example involved around 10 litres collected from a cow per day, translating into ₹100–₹200 of additional daily revenue at the reported rates.
The real opportunity, however, is not simply selling urine. The bigger economic model is processing it into higher-value agricultural inputs.
If raw material is collected locally and converted into fertilisers or crop-protection products, more value can potentially remain within the rural economy.
From waste to agricultural input
This is where the model becomes more interesting from a business perspective.
Agriculture produces multiple forms of biological waste. Normally, such material has limited economic value unless it can be collected, processed and sold.
The Syana model attempts to create that missing link.
Reports say products made from cow urine and cow dung are being used in natural farming and sold through agricultural cooperative channels.
For farmers, the potential benefit is two-sided:
- Additional income from cattle
- Access to locally produced agricultural inputs
That could make cattle ownership economically more attractive, particularly for small farmers already maintaining cows.
Women’s groups are an important part of the model
Another notable feature is the involvement of women’s groups.
According to the 2024 report, more than 50 women were associated with the FPO-linked collection network in villages around Narsena. Collection centres were being operated by women who gathered urine from cattle-owning households and supplied it onward for processing.
This matters because a rural value chain is more sustainable when collection is organised rather than dependent on individual farmers.
The model resembles a miniature dairy network, except the commodity being collected is cow urine rather than milk.
That creates potential for local employment in collection, transportation, processing, packaging and distribution.
Could this become a statewide model?
That is the biggest question—and it is too early to give a definitive answer.
The available evidence establishes that the Syana/Narsena experiment has been operating for several years and has expanded its collection network. A 2023 report said around 10,000 litres had been purchased in the previous year, with a target of 50,000 litres as demand for cow-based agricultural products increased.
But scaling the model across Uttar Pradesh would require much more than creating collection centres.
It would need:
- Reliable quality standards
- Regular procurement
- Storage and transportation systems
- Processing capacity
- Product testing
- Regulatory compliance
- Farmer awareness
- A sustainable market for finished products
Without these pieces, a procurement programme could struggle to remain commercially viable.
What does it mean for the rural economy?
If successfully scaled, the model could support a broader circular rural economy, where agricultural and livestock by-products are converted into marketable inputs.
The concept also fits into the broader policy interest in livestock-based rural livelihoods and indigenous cattle development. At the national level, programmes such as the Rashtriya Gokul Mission focus on improving bovine productivity and making dairying more remunerative for rural farmers.
However, the economic case should ultimately be judged on measurable outcomes—not just the novelty of buying cow urine.
The key metrics would be farmer income, processing costs, product demand, crop economics and whether farmers actually reduce input costs without compromising yields.
What should farmers and investors watch?
For farmers, the most important issue is whether procurement remains reliable and whether the buying price covers the effort involved in collection.
For businesses, the opportunity lies further down the value chain: organic fertilisers, bio-inputs, natural farming products, collection logistics and rural processing.
But investors should be cautious about automatically linking this local initiative to listed agricultural or chemical companies. There is currently no basis to claim that the Syana project will materially affect any particular listed stock.
The commercial opportunity will depend on whether such models can move beyond local experimentation and develop into scalable, compliant businesses.
The bigger takeaway
The Syana experiment is interesting because it changes the economic equation around cattle. Instead of treating milk as the only commercially valuable output, it attempts to create additional value from cow urine and dung through agricultural processing.
Dr Praveen Rana’s work has received state-level recognition, and village-level collection networks have already been reported in the area.
But claims that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has already given a formal green light for a statewide model should be treated cautiously unless supported by an official government order or announcement.
For now, Syana offers a real-world rural business experiment. Its success will depend on whether the model can consistently turn low-value biological waste into commercially viable farm inputs while delivering genuine additional income to cattle-owning households.
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This article is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice
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