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The impact of farmers’ participation in field trials in creating awareness and stimulating compliance with the World Health Organization’s farm-based multiple-barrier approach

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Abstract

The results of a study aimed as assessing the extent to which urban vegetable farmers’ participation in field trials can impact on their awareness and engender compliance with the World Health Organization’s farm-based multiple-barrier approach are presented in this paper. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches have been used in this paper. One hundred vegetable farmers and four vegetable farmers’ associations in the Kumasi Metropolis in Ghana were covered. The individual farmers were grouped into two, namely: (1) participants and (2) non-participants of the farm-based multiple-barrier approach field trials. The results of the study show that participation in the field trials has statistically significant effects on farmers’ awareness of the farm-based multiple-barrier approach. Compliance has, however, been undermined by the farmers’ perception that the cost of compliance is more that the benefits. Policy tools that can address these constraints have been recommended in the paper.

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Notes

  1. Entitled, “Safeguarding Public Health Concerns, Livelihoods and Productivity in Wastewater Irrigated Urban and Peri-urban Vegetable Farming”.

  2. Farmwell Organic Vegetables Farmers’ Association, Peace and Love Organic Vegetable Farmers’ Association and Progressive Vegetable Growers’ Association.

  3. Frafra Vegetable Farmers’ Association.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are most grateful to the “Safe Water for Food Project (SaWaFo)” funded by Danida for supporting the study. We also acknowledge the immense contributions of Messrs Alfred Atimba, Michael Osei Asibey, Aminu Sulemana and Mathias Edetor. They supported us to collect data from the urban vegetable farmers.

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Correspondence to Owusu Amponsah.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 8.

Table 8 Health-protection control measures and associated pathogen reductions in irrigation water or on crop

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Amponsah, O., Håkan, V., Schou, T.W. et al. The impact of farmers’ participation in field trials in creating awareness and stimulating compliance with the World Health Organization’s farm-based multiple-barrier approach. Environ Dev Sustain 18, 1059–1079 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-015-9686-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-015-9686-2

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