Attitudes of farmers toward sludge use in the Gaza Strip

Abstract

The local production of organic fertiliser in the Gaza Strip is 66,800 m 3 /year, which represents only 8.5% of the required quantities. This means that farmers have to import 728,000 m 3 of organic fertiliser per year, which costs around 10.2 Mio US$. The social survey carried out for more than 300 farmers in the Gaza Strip shows that the scarcity of organic fertilisers and their high prices could encourage farmers to use treated sludge instead of importing organic fertilisers. The farmers who have not used sludge before are willing to use it if it is well treated and shows good results after application. Also sludge can be used as soil conditioner if it is composted as imported compost materials used in the Gaza Strip.