Factors Affecting Farmer’s Chemical Fertilizers Consumption and Water Pollution in Northeastern Iran

Pollution by fertilizers containing nitrogen is one of the most significant sources of water pollution, and agriculture sector has a considerable share in this type of pollution. In this study, factors affecting the level of contamination of surface and underground water resources by agricultural activities were examined. Data of 254 wheat farmers in the plain of Mashhad in Khorasan Razavi province in Iran were used for investigating the effect of some explanatory variables on the level of water pollution utilizing Ordered Logit Regression Model. The results show that main activity of farmers, years of experience, the level of education, awareness of organic farming, level of income, price of fertilizers and irrigation method have significant effect on the amount of fertilizers utilized by farmers and hence the level of water resources pollution. Efforts for decreasing pollution of water resources require strategies such as changing the main activity of farmers, increase the cost of using chemical fertilizers, create economic incentives for organic farming, and increase general information and knowledge of farmers.