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.