Psychometric analysis of the ecological dispositions of rural farming communities in South Africa: Implications for human excreta reuse in agriculture

Abstract

The established link between anthropogenic activities and environmental problems calls for the understanding of public perceptions of the environment. Circular bioeconomy approaches promote sustainable and resilient food systems, and are critical to address soil, human, and environmental health. This study endeavours to understand the ecological worldviews of rural farming communities and implications for human excreta reuse in agriculture. The study adopted the social psychology theory and the new ecological paradigm scale, which measures environmental attitudes. The Cronbach’s alpha factoring indicated high internal consistency and reliability of the questions. The results show that rural farmers are moderately environmentally conscious. The hierarchical regression results show that age, education, and household income negatively influence environmental attitudes. Pro-environmental farmers perceived lower health risk and believed that they were more capable of using human excreta. The study recommends that the reuse of human excreta in agriculture be marketed as a sustainable and environmentally friendly innovation to increase social acceptance by rural farmers in agri-food systems.