Monitoring point source pollution by pesticide use: an analysis of farmers' environmental behavior in waste disposal.

Point source pollution by pesticide use poses serious challenges for soil and water quality, especially in developing countries, where heavy pesticide use is often noted. However, data on farmers' practices of waste disposal and factors affecting actual behavior are scarce. The current study dealt with farmers' practices and safety behavior in proper disposal of empty pesticide containers (EPC) in Ardabil Province, Iran, based on a survey with structured questionnaires. Almost 30% of the farmers mentioned that they were leaving EPC in the farm or throwing EPC in water canals, while the remaining farmers reported that they were burning EPC or throwing them in the common trash. Concerning information on proper disposal of EPC, almost one-third of the respondents (34.3%) had no information, while above half (56.3%) had very low or low information. On a scale from 1 to 5, farmers' showed relatively negative attitudes towards proper disposal of EPC. Moreover, farmers showed low levels of subjective norms and perceived behavioral control, i.e. they were not influenced by people around them in the proper management of EPC and had fair control of proper management of EPC. Therefore, farmers showed slightly negative intention and rather weak behavior to proper disposal of EPC. Attitudes and subjective norms showed a positive effect (P < 0.05) on farmers' intention towards disposal of EPC and farmers' intention showed a positive effect (P < 0.05) on actual behavior towards disposal of EPC. Findings provide novel fundamental information for more effective disposal schemes of EPC in the study area, where disposal of pesticide waste is insufficient. Promoting attitudes towards proper disposal of EPC through information from peers or important individuals to farmers can be targeted for promoting environmentally friendly behavior of farmers with proper practices of EPC disposal after use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]