71 / 2021-06-30 15:22:42

Farmers' cognition and willingness on participating green disposal of agricultural waste in central China

Agro-environmental sustainability; Perception; Rural area; Agricultural waste; Logistic regression.

In preparation for reducing the vulnerability of agricultural production as well as enhancing the well-being for rural inhabitants, China needs to develop sustainable plan in rural areas. Waste treatment towards the agro-environmental sustainability has been expecting to mitigate current pollution from agricultural production and compensate the shortage of natural resources. A pool of socio-economic variables associated with rural households’ personal background, their awareness on green wastes disposal and the willingness to participate green agricultural activities were assessed, in order to know farmers' cognition and willingness on participating green disposal of agricultural waste. The study used field survey data and 359 farmers were interviewed in central China. Logistic regression modelling was applied to know the main influencing factors on farmers’ willingness to participate green waste disposal which coming from agricultural production. The rural households showed that three variables significant, which were activity period of agricultural production, farmers’ reputation on green production and the willingness on green treatment of domestic waste. Concerning treating various types of agricultural waste, rural households presented strong willingness on recycling or environmentally-friendly treating biowaste. Currently, rural households mainly used biowaste for biogas generation or crop fertilizer. In the matter of current disposal on chemical waste from agricultural production, most rural households kept the pesticide residues for their future use; about one-third households brought them to processing sites; nearly two-third households sold the packages of pesticide or fertilizer. Around 90% of rural households knew that green treatment of agricultural waste or residues could have positive environmental impacts. Over 50% of rural households was satisfied with their current waste systems in the local areas. The results can help understand rural households’ perspectives related to agricultural production and be used as a basis for developing the bioecomic policy in the future.