Crop irrigation with treated wastewater in sustainable agriculture: Investigating farmer behavior

Crop irrigation with treated wastewater is recognized as a strategy to address water scarcity and promote sustainable practices in agriculture. Farmers, as fundamental components of agricultural systems, play a crucial role in the success of water resource management through their attitudes and behaviors. This study aimed to investigate farmers' adoption of crop irrigation with treated wastewater. We developed a theoretical model integrating subjective cognition with external influences to explore the factors affecting this willingness. Our findings revealed that farmers' green perceived usefulness, environmental policy, and subjective norm positively influenced their willingness to adopt this irrigation method. Production and environmental risks significantly deterred acceptance. The subjective norm was the most crucial factor in shaping farmers' decisions. Additionally, our multi-group analysis indicated significant variations in willingness based on age, education level, and household agricultural income, highlighting the need for targeted approaches in policy and extension services to address these differences effectively. • This study focuses on farmers' acceptance of treated wastewater for irrigation. • An acceptance model is proposed based on subjective cognition and external influences. • Subjective norms are identified as the dominant factor in the acceptance of treated wastewater irrigation. • The explanatory power of the acceptance model is 84.2 %, verified by 586 farmers.