An Application of the Management of Agrochemical Packaging Waste Promoting Program of Farmer Households, Han Kaeo Sub-district, Hang Dong District, Chiang Mai Province

Abstract

In Thailand, agrochemicals are used by farmers to increase crop quality and agricultural product production. This leads to the rising of agrochemical container waste, which is hazardous waste and need to be disposed of properly. This quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest study aimed to determine the effectiveness of the program for promoting household agrochemical packaging waste management among farmers in Han Kaeo Subdistrict, Hang Dong District, Chiang Mai Province. The participants of the study were 34 farmers who lived in Han Kaeo Subdistrict by convenience sampling method. The intervention in this study was the program for promoting household agrochemical packaging waste management and the data collection instruments were the questionnaires. The demographic data were statistically analyzed using descriptive statistics. Pre- and post-scores of knowledges were compared using the Wilcoxon signed rank test, while the scores of self-efficacy and practices were compared using the paired T-test.

The result shows that most of the samples are males (67.65%), average age is 65.29 years old, most of the samples graduated from primary school (73.50%), have average monthly income 3,020.59 baht, the average duration of working as farmer is 26.79 years and do farming by themselves (91.18%), have an agricultural area of 5–10 rai (52.94%), most of them do horticulture farming (73.50%), average yearly income is 40,176.47 baht, and average expenses for agrochemicals is 8,126.47 baht. A knowledge source about managing agrochemical container waste is a government officer (45.16%). The data of the agrochemical used and agrochemical packaging waste management show that most of sample have bought agrochemical from agrochemical store (62.00%), insecticide is the most used in past year (36.26%), the sample used agrochemical 5-10 liter per year (50.00%), plastic bottles packaging waste occurs the most (53.22%), farmers managed agrochemical packaging waste by selling them to recycled waste buyer (38.10%) and disposed agrochemical packaging waste 1-2 time per year (79.41%). The result shows the mean scores of knowledge, self-efficacy and practices toward agrochemical container waste management among farmers before administering the program are 9.85, 4.48, and 2.43, respectively. The mean scores of knowledge, self-efficacy, and practices after providing the program were 10.88, 4.65, and 2.70, respectively. The mean scores of knowledges after the program were significantly higher than those before the program (p=0.006). The mean scores of self-efficacy after the program were significantly higher than those before the program (p<0.001).  The mean scores of practices after the program were significantly higher than those before the program (p<0.001). The findings of this study can contribute to the development of strategies aimed at promoting proper management of agrichemical packaging waste. By raising awareness among farmers, sustainable improvements in their behaviors can be achieved.