Farmers' Behavior Analysis on Reuse of Agricultural Waste in Khorramabad Township, Iran

The rapid increase in world population and urban migration has led to an increase in demand for food, which in turn leads to the production of a large amount of agricultural waste, although it has been determined that waste accumulation has very harmful effects on humans and the environment, Such wastes, if properly managed, could be a important biological source for increasing food security in agricultural societies. However, despite the benefits of using agricultural wastes in terms of environmental and economic sustainability, such behaviour has not yet been accepted among farmers. The purpose of this study is to analysis psychological factors affect farmers' behaviour to reuse agricultural wastes. To achieve this goal, the theory of planned behaviour was used as the main framework. The population of the study was consisted of Farmers in Khoram Abad Township that according to Krejcie & Morgan table, the sample size was determined (n=375). A questionnaire was used to collect data. To analyze the data used structural equation modeling with using software AMOS24.The results showed that there is a significant difference between farmers who have participated in extension classes of waste management with farmers who have not participated in these classes in terms of behavior, attitude, subjective norm and behavioral beliefs. The results showed that attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control have a positive relationship with farmers' behavior to reuse agricultural wastes. The results showed that the attitude had the most direct effect and behavioural beliefs had the most indirect effect on farmers' behaviour.