Title: Attitudes of farmers toward sludge use in the Gaza Strip

Authors: A. Nassar, K. Tubail, S. Afifi

Addresses: Civil Engineering Department, Islamic University Gaza, P.O. Box 108, The Palestinian Authority, Palestine. ' Faculty of Agriculture, Al Azher University, Gaza, The Gaza Strip, Palestine. ' P.O. Box 108, Islamic University, Gaza City, The Gaza Strip, Palestine

Abstract: The local production of organic fertiliser in the Gaza Strip is 66,800 m³/year, which represents only 8.5% of the required quantities. This means that farmers have to import 728,000 m³ of organic fertiliser per year, which costs around 10.2 Mio US$. The social survey carried out for more than 300 farmers in the Gaza Strip shows that the scarcity of organic fertilisers and their high prices could encourage farmers to use treated sludge instead of importing organic fertilisers. The farmers who have not used sludge before are willing to use it if it is well treated and shows good results after application. Also sludge can be used as soil conditioner if it is composted as imported compost materials used in the Gaza Strip.

Keywords: agriculture; crops; farmers; fertilisers; treated sludge; Gaza Strip; Palestine; soil conditioners; crop fertilisation; compost; farmer attitudes.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2009.021580

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2009 Vol.10 No.1, pp.89 - 101

Published online: 30 Nov 2008 *

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