Rural Women's Attitudes Towards the Consequences of Vermicompost Production in Fars Province

Vermicompost production technology is the best way to optimize the use of organic wastes, due to the poor organic matter. In order to supply organic matter for agricultural sector and creating employment for rural women, vermicomposting project in Fars province was established. This study was conducted to investigate attitude of rural women to the social, economical, environmental and health impacts of vermicompost production in Fars province. The study population included all women involved producing vermicompost in Fars province. Questionnaire was used for data gathering. Stratified random sampling was used to collect data from of 40 sites and 151 rural women producing vermicompost. The Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients were obtained between 0.67 to 0.95.The findings showed that rural women have a favorable attitude towards the production of vermicompost. Attitude towards the production of vermicompost, vermicompost production’ motives, the number of members and the distance to the vegetables fields variables have been positive, direct and significant effects on women’s attitudes towards women vermicompost impacts. Results revealed that the average attitude of producers with four production periods in a year towards the economic is more than producers who have 2 or 3 production periods in a year because they earn more income from vermicompost production. Women who work in organized production system have higher positive attitude toward social and health impacts of vermicompost production than those who work in private site. The results indicated that the average attitude of women who only use animal manure for vermicompost production toward social, economic and environmental impacts of vermicompost production significantly higher than the average attitude of women who are using animal manure and other organic materials. Finally, practical recommendations have been provided for improving the production of vermicompost especially establishment of the attitude in management of wastes and identifying appropriate with suitable conditions to implementation the projects.