Perception and Attitudes of Farmers toward the uses of Treated Sewage Water in Palm Trees Irrigation

The primary purpose of the study was to determine the attitudes of farmers toward the uses of sewage water in Palm trees irrigation. The population of the study was 470 farmers. Questionnaire reviewed for content and face validity by a panel of experts from Department of Agricultural Extension at the College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University and was used to collect data . A three point Likert -type scale was used. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was found to be 0.85, which indicated the internal consistency of the scale. Finding indicated that the attitudes of farmers were positive towards the benefits of the uses of wastewater in irrigation. Approximately 62% of the respondents agreed that the use of sewage water helps in maintaining the non-renewable water resources, 71% agreed that the treated sewage water, in the future, will become a large part of the water consumption in agriculture, 56% of respondents agreed that there is a global trend to use treated sewage water as an additional source of renewable water for irrigation while agreeing to the benefits of using sewage water, only 46% of respondents agreed to invite their neighbors to use treated sewage water in their farms, 57% did not agree with the idea of expansion of the uses of treated wastewater in agriculture. A simple correlation Coefficient of Spearman indicated that there is a inverse relationship between age and attitudes of farmers towards the uses of treated sewage water in agriculture. Young farmers were more positive towards the uses of treated sewage water than the elderly. Also it turned out that there is a direct correlation between the level of education and attitudes of farmers towards the uses of treated sewage water which means that farmers with higher education were more positive towered the uses of treated sewage water. It was recommended that an extension programs should be implemented to raise awareness of farmers towards the importance of the uses of treated sewage water.