Behavioral intentions of rural farmers to recycle human excreta in agriculture

Abstract

Considerable progress has been made in developing human excreta recovery pathways and processes for maximum nutrient recovery and contaminant elimination. The demand segment has often been ignored as an area for future research, especially during the technology development. The findings from the few published articles on social acceptance show missing and inconclusive influence of demographic, sociological, and economic farmer-characteristics. This study endeavours to close this gap by using the social psychological theories, technology adoption theories and the new ecological paradigm to investigate the factors that influence the behavioral intentions of rural farmers to recycle human excreta in agriculture. Study findings show that social acceptance was driven by awareness, religiosity, income, source of income, and environmental dispositions. Perceived behavioral control represents a potential barrier to human excreta reuse. The study recommends the demographic, cultural, sociological, and economic mainstreaming of dissemination strategies of circular bioeconomy approaches within the context of agricultural innovation systems.

Mitigating Contaminant-Driven Risks for the Safe Expansion of the Agricultural─Sanitation Circular Economy in an Urbanizing World

“…Nevertheless, it is important to highlight that even when all barriers to reuse have been overcome, and any health risks arising from contaminants are mitigated for, risk perception remains a significant barrier to social acceptance of the reuse of resources in agriculture, with concerns in particular around the use of human excreta derived materials . Acceptance of resource reuse is limited by information and availability and therefore interventions are needed that focus on community specific social and behavior change communication that embraces coproduction of change with local farming organizations and members of the community . As a global community, we need to re-envisage what “waste” is to increase public acceptability.…”

Behavioral Intentions towards Climate-Smart Practices and Rural Farmer’s Food-Nutrition Security: A Micro Economic-Level Evidence

“…The TPB posits that individuals' conduct may be predicted based on their intentions, which are influenced by their attitudes and behavioural intents (Atta- Aidoo et al, 2022;Kangogo et al, 2021). These intentions, in turn, are shaped by social norms and the degree of control individuals perceive over their action (Gwara et al, 2022). The underlying premise of this perspective is that individuals' decision-making, choices, and behaviour are influenced by rational thinking, which is in turn shaped by three key factors: attitudes, subjective standards, and perceived behavioural control (Atta- Aidoo et al, 2022;Kangogo et al, 2021;Omotayo et al, 2020).…”

“…Accordingly, a heightened inclination towards a behaviour, results in an improved intention to adopt certain agricultural technology which would enhance their household food-nutrition security (Outhwaite et al, 2022). Numerous research (Davis-Reddy, 2018;Gwara et al, 2022;Issahaku & Abdulai, 2020;Ren et al, 2018) have shown the significance of attitude in forecasting the inclination of farmers to embrace CSA practices. The influence of attitude on an individual's intention and behaviour has been recognized as a significant factor (Mullins et al, 2018).…”

“…The involvement of a farmer in adoption behaviour is contingent upon the farmer's perception of the probability of obtaining the necessary resources and knowledge (Adesete et al, 2022;Amadu et al, 2020). Perceived behaviour control has been identified as a crucial factor in predicting farmers' intention to adopt agricultural practices (Gwara et al, 2022;Issahaku & Abdulai, 2020).…”

“…Interestingly, the adoption of agricultural practices is impacted by several elements, extending beyond socio-demographic considerations and economic incentives (Atta- Aidoo et al, 2022). Individual and intrinsic motives, as well as farmers' perception, have a significant role in shaping these adoption decisions (Di Falco et al, 2011;Gwara et al, 2022). Understanding the behavioural intentions of farmers provide the most comprehensive explanation for these influences (Ado et al, 2020;Aidoo et al, 2021;Atta-Aidoo et al, 2022).…”