The policy implications of urban open space commercial vegetable farmers’ willingness and ability to pay for reclaimed water for irrigation in Kumasi, Ghana

Abstract

The acute waste management problems, coupled with the proliferation of small scale industries in many developing countries, make low quality water treatment before use inevitable in the long run. These industries have the potential to discharge effluent containing chemicals and heavy metals into the environment. The indiscriminative use of pharmaceutical products by households in many of these countries is another source of health concern. Low quality water treatment in these countries has however been hampered by the high cost of infrastructure provision and maintenance. Cost-sharing among stakeholders appears to be a promising strategy to finance and maintain the wastewater treatment infrastructure. In this study therefore, the willingness and ability of urban open space commercial vegetable farmers to pay for reclaimed water for irrigation purposes has been assessed. One hundred open space commercial vegetable farmers and four vegetable farmers’ associations were selected and interviewed in Kumasi in Ghana using semi-structured interview schedules and interview guides respectively. The results of the study show that approximately three out of every five vegetable farmers were willing to pay for reclaimed water for irrigation. The results further show that the probability of being willing to pay by farmers who agreed that the current water they used for irrigation was harmful is approximately 5.3 times greater than that of those who did not. The analysis of the farmers’ ability to pay revealed that all the farmers would be capable of paying for reclaimed water at a price of US$0.11/m3. This has implications for land tenure security and vegetable consumers' willingness to pay higher prices for the produce.

Critical attributes and considerations for selecting irrigation systems for wastewater

“…Results from this research (Bansah and Suglo, 2016) met recommended microbiological and chemical quality guidelines for wastewater reuse in Ghana. The question of whether farmers engaged in urban and peri-urban farming are willing to pay for treated or recycled water was answered by Amponsah et al (2016). They reported that approximately 60 % of vegetable farmers would pay for treated water for their irrigation at a fee.…”

The irrigation suitability potential of an effluent treated by a pseudo‐natural wetland

“…The expansion in urban populations in many countries in the world has resulted in massive volumes of wastewater. These wastewaters are released in open places due to a lack of financial capacity and overall awareness about wastewater management (Amponsah et al, 2016). Municipalities use some of these polluted wastewaters for plant growth and other uses.…”

Effects of Bacillus subtilis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae inoculation on soil bacterial community and rice yield under combined irrigation with reclaimed and fresh water

“…Reclaimed water is an important means to resolve the short-term problem of water resources, and has already been applied in many countries [4][5][6] . At present, reclaimed water drip irrigation is being used in Beijing, China, to alleviate local water shortages [7,8] .…”