ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the business model on Outsourcing fecal sludge treatment to the farm and a supporting case from India, demonstrating how the informal business sector can support the sanitation value chain for the benefit of agricultural production. Fecal sludge is an abundant and valuable resource as the dominating urban sanitation system in both South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are septic tanks and latrines. The reuse opportunity that lies in the fecal sludge waste stream is especially important where soils are poor and the availability of alternative inputs is expensive. The observed reuse business model between farmers and truck operators reverses the cash flow, as farmers pay the drivers for farm-gate delivery, while otherwise the transporter must pay a tipping fee for desludging into a treatment pond. In an optimized business model, the revenue would ideally support the operation and maintenance costs of the cesspit operation, supplementing the fecal sludge household collection fee.
