Farmers'perceptions on irrigation water contamination, health risks and risk management measures in prominent wastewater-irrigated vegetable farming sites of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

摘要

Abstract The use of wastewater to produce food crops particularly vegetables is very prevalent in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This practice may pose health risks to farm workers and consumers. Hence, the study was designed to evaluate farmers’ perceptions on irrigation water quality, health risks and health risk mitigation measures in four wastewater-irrigated urban vegetable farming sites in Addis Ababa. Data were collected on farm through 263 individual interviews and 12 focus group discussions. The findings showed that despite differences in levels of knowledge and awareness on health risks, farmers appear informed about the contamination of their irrigation water. The difference in perception to quality consideration of Akaki River/irrigation water is highlighted by the result of Kruskal–Wallis H test analysis which shows significant mean value (1.33) of positive perception toward the water quality by male than female farmers. Interestingly, significant difference ( p   p  = 0.044) low mean score to planting non-food produce. Akaki-Addis farmers suitability perceptions of planting non-food produce and non-raw eaten crops were significantly ( p