Analysis of Farmers’ Financial Participation for Reducing Environmental Effects of Agricultural Chemical Inputs (Case Study: Kashaf- Rood Basin in Mashhad)

Introduction: Environmental pollution including water and soil pollution is one of the challenges in agriculture in recent decades. The indiscriminate use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers results in soil and water pollution and thus it is a threat to human health, water and soil health and food security. Thus, there is a need for better management in this field with farmers’ participation. So, farmers’ behavior for reducing the adverse environmental effects of pesticides and chemical fertilizers should be analyzed to determine the degree of success in reducing the adverse environmental effects. Thus, this study analyzes the farmers’ financial participation to reduce the adverse environmental effects of agricultural chemical inputs. Materials and Methods: To achieve the desired goal, the Contingent Valuation approach is used. Thisapproach examines a persons’ willingness to pay for keeping the present status quo, making positive changes in the environment or their willingness to accept to compensate for the loss of an environmental benefit or increase in an environmental loss. To separate the effects of variables, the Tobit model was used by using the Heckman s two-stage method which affected the farmers’ decision about financial participation and the variables affecting the farmers’ amount of financial participation. In this study, the simple random sampling method was used to achieve the desired sample according to the objective study and the Cochran s formula was used to determine the number of samples. A total of one-hundred questionnaires were collected from farmers of Kashaf-rood basin in the city of Mashhad in 2013.Results and Discussion: The results showed that age, education, type of agricultural activity, index 2 (farmers agree with the adverse effects of overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides), index 5 (farmers agree with investments to protect the soil and water), sex, number of households employed in agriculture, experience in using soil and water conservation practices, index 4 (farmers agree with well-being of available soil and water) have a significant impact on the farmers’ decision to financially participate in reducing the adverse environmental effects of the use of chemical fertilizers. And sex, experience in using soil and water conservation practices, total area under cultivation, index 3 (farmers agree with rural and urban sewage inflow into Kashafrood river), index 5 (farmers agree with investments to protect the soil and water), number of households employed in agriculture and land ownership status have a significant impact on the farmers’ amount of financial participation for reducing the adverse environmental effects of chemical fertilizers. Also, variables of type of agricultural activity, land ownership status, total amount of annual consumption of chemical pesticides per year, sex, age, education, number of households employed in agriculture, index 1 (farmers agree with benefits of preventing soil washing) and index 4 (farmers agree with well-being of available soil and water) have a significant impact on the farmers’ decision for financial participation to reduce the adverse environmental effects of chemical pesticides. And variables of land ownership status, total area under cultivation, index 4 (farmers agree with well-being of available soil and water), age, sex, education, main job, number of households employed in agriculture, type of agricultural activity, net savings from agriculture, experience in using soil and water conservation practices, total amount of annual consumption of fertilizer per year, total amount of annual consumption of chemical pesticides per year, index 1 (farmers agree with benefits of preventing soil washing), index 4 (farmers agree with well-being of available soil and water) and index 5 (farmers agree with investments to protect the soil and water) have a significant impact on the farmers’ amount of financial participation for reducing the adverse environmental effects of chemical pesticides. Conclusion: According to the results of the study, it is suggested that in order to maintain and improve soil and water conditions, motivational tools should be used. And an amount of moneyshould be collected as tax from the farmers who use more fertilizers and chemical pesticides. To determine the amount of this tax, the farmers financial participation that was examined in this study is used. Also, since farmers have enough incentives to reduce the adverse environmental effects of esticides and chemical fertilizers, using these two inputs on the one hand and promoting the production of organic products on the other handcan be planned especially in the field of education based on respect for limits recommended use of these two inputs on one side and promoted the production of organic products on the other side.