Acceptability of wastewater resource and its impact on crop production in Tanzania: the case of Dodoma, Morogoro and Mvomero wastewater stabilization ponds

Abstract

Kivukoni Journal 2013, 1(2)The study was carried out to assess the views of urban farmers in relation to acceptability of wastewater resource in agriculture and examine its impact for crop production. A total of 200 respondents were involved in this study. The study found that 90% of the 112 households using wastewater and 85% of the 88 households not using the resource indicated effluents from WSPs as main and reliable source of water for irrigation. Wastewater utilization in agriculture was accepted by 97.3% of farmers using wastewater and 64.8% of farmers not using it and the difference was significant (p<0.01). The study found that on average farmers utilizing wastewater produced 4.5 bags of rice per acre more than farmers not utilizing wastewater and the difference was significant (p<0.05). In conclusion, wastewater utilization in agriculture was accepted by both groups of farmers engaging in agriculture in urban and peri-urban areas and that high crop yield was realized by farmers utilizing wastewater in agriculture . Since some respondents indicated that the resource may have health effects to farmers and consumers of the produce, it is recommended that, more research on microbial analysis be carried out to establish evidence of health effects associated with the use of wastewater in agriculture from infectious agent