Farmers’ perceptions and capacity for 3Rs agro-waste management in a vegetable growing area of Bangladesh

Abstract

Agriculture is responsible for giving rise to huge quantities of degradable and non-degradable waste during various farming activities. A deeper understanding of farmers’ perceptions and levels of agro-waste management capacity is essential in developing locally accepted strategies for agro-waste management. This study was framed to analyze vegetable farmers’ perception and capacity for Bangladesh’s 3Rs waste management concept (reduce, reuse, and recycle). A total of 125 farmers were selected following a stratified proportionate random sampling technique and interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The findings of this study indicate that intercultural and harvesting practices produce a large variety of bio-degradable and non-degradable waste materials compared to other stages of vegetable production and marketing of produce. The overall score showed that the vegetable farmers’ have a medium (39.2%) to high (60.8%) perception of the 3Rs waste management concept, but they possessed a low perception of recycling agro-waste. However, the overall capacity score for 3Rs waste management was low (67.2%) to medium (31.2%), indicating a low capacity of vegetable growers to recycle different types of waste. This study offers suggestions for a development program that includes special training facilities for vegetable growers to strengthen their waste management capabilities based on the 3Rs concept.