Recycling date palm waste for compost production: A study of sustainability behavior of date palm growers

Human communities need agriculture for food supply, waste cycles, water supply, and so on. Wise management of waste recycling and composting will help the agrarian economy in addition to environmental conservation. This issue is of high importance for the date as it is the second most strategic horticultural crop in Iran. In this regard, this research aimed to study the behavior of date palm growers in Sistan-va-Baluchistan province regarding waste recycling for compost production. The research population for the survey was composed of all date palm growers in this province in Iran. The sample size was determined at 379 people based on Krejcie and Morgan's table. They were taken by simple randomization with proportional allocation. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire. The results of structural equation modeling revealed that social norms, farmers' attitudes, and subjective constraints had positive and significant effects on date palm growers' intention to recycle date palm wastes by composting. Also, habitual processes were influenced by objective constraints, subjective constraints, and personal norms of date palm growers. •Human communities need agriculture for food supply, waste cycles, water supply, and so on.•Social norms, attitudes, and subjective constraints had significant effects on farmers' intention.•Habitual processes were influenced by objective and subjective constraints, and personal norms.