Abstract
Farmers are concerned in the chemical supply chain (manufacturers, vendors, workers, and consumers) of the agricultural products through their understandings of the safety information (i.e. reading labels such as skull and crossbones symbols, volatile organic compound logo or the fish and tree symbol) and the factors influence misuse of irrigation and disposal behavior. Having recognized a methodological gap, this contribution was intended to investigate qualitatively (textural analysis) the determinants of the use behavior (UB) of farmers irrigating their lands by the recycled industrial wastewater (RIWW) (Aljerf, 2018) [1] using the exploratory investigation based on the single embedded case design. Such combined analytical methods enabled us to achieve both detailed insights into perceptions, behaviors, and an objective understanding of the prevailing opinions that occurred within and between the focus farmers group׳ discussions related around awareness, trust, access and disposal actions within the supply chain. Using the snowball sampling approach, verbal data were collected from 55 Syrian farmers. 5 × 11,000 US gallons (43,900 L) of the RIWW were delivered to each farmer upon request between May and October 2017. After a month of each distribution, the participant farmer was interviewed. To increase the validity of the data, method triangulation was implemented which encompassed participant observation, group debates, and unstructured interviews. The hermeneutic units were analyzed using the pattern-matching method in the Atlas.ti software (version 6.0.15) and the grounded concepts (determinants) were investigated to establish the hypothetical framework at three levels: intrapersonal, interpersonal, and institutional.