Abstract
<p>This study assessed the perceptions of vegetable farmers, traders, consumers and key informants on the health hazards of using low-quality water in irrigation vegetable production in Morogoro, Tanzania. Methods used to collect data were a survey involving all farmers in Changarawe village and Fungafunga area using low-quality water for irrigation vegetable production (n=60), consumers of low-quality water irrigated vegetables (n=70) and vegetable traders selling low-quality water irrigated vegetables (n=60), focus group discussions (n=7) and key informant interviews (n=25). The study employed cross sectional research design. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate mean, frequencies and percentages while Mann-Whitney U-test and Kruskal-Wallis H-test assessed the association between social-demographic variables and respondents score on the health hazard perception scale of using low-quality water in vegetable production. Results showed skin itching, fungal diseases, bilharzias and worm infestation as among the perceived health hazards in using low-quality irrigation water. Health hazard perception differed among groups of farmers, consumers and vegetable traders (<em>p&lt;</em>0.001). The mean ranks of the groups indicated that farmers perceive less health hazards in using low-quality water (mean rank = 147.98) compared to consumers (mean rank = 72.68) and vegetable traders (mean rank 69.64). More health hazards were perceived by Fungafunga farmers compared to farmers from the Changarawe village (<em>p&lt;</em>0.001) while female farmers perceived less hazards in using low-quality water than male farmers <em>(p </em>&lt; 0.05). Consumers with formal education perceived more health hazards than consumers with no formal education (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.001) while vegetable traders from Fungafunga area perceived more health hazards in selling low-quality water irrigated vegetable than vegetable traders from the Changarawe village (<em>p&lt;</em>0.001). These findings demonstrate the need to design health hazards minimization interventions for specific target group. </p>
Highlights
Low-quality water, often reported as wastewater, is widely used in various developed and developing countries
Methods used to collect data were a survey involving all farmers in Changarawe village and Fungafunga area using low-quality water for irrigation vegetable production (n=60), consumers of low-quality water irrigated vegetables (n=70) and vegetable traders selling low-quality water irrigated vegetables (n=60), focus group discussions (n=7) and key informant interviews (n=25)
At least 30% of the farmers, vegetable traders and consumers belonged to the age group of 31-45 years, except consumers in the Fungafunga area (13.3 %)
Summary
Low-quality water, often reported as wastewater, is widely used in various developed and developing countries. Some of the countries in which the use of low-quality water has been reported include Greece, Israel and Italy (Kalavrouziotis et al, 2013), Australia (Barker, Amoah, & Drechsel, 2014), Palestine (Shaheen, 2003), Bangladesh (Mojid, Biswas, & Wyseure, 2012), Tanzania (Kihila, Mtei, & Njau, 2014) and Ghana (Keraita, Drechsel, & Konradsen, 2008a ; Owusu, Bakang, Abaidoo, & Kinane, 2011). Use of low-quality water in agriculture has been associated with health hazards to farmers, vegetable traders and consumers due to the presence of pathogens and toxic compounds (Jiménez et al, 2010).
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