AT LEAST 5000 poor farmers in Niger have been saved from ruin with the help
of cola bottle caps. Last year’s drought should have devastated harvests of
millet. Instead, yields doubled thanks to a project organised by the Sahelian
Centre of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
in Niamey.
To fortify the soil, farmers added “microdoses” of fertiliser to their plants
with the bottle caps. The caps hold 6 grams of fertiliser, enough for every two
or three plants.
