Factors Affecting Farmers’ Satisfaction from Water U sers Association in the Harran Plain-GAP Region, Turkey

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to determine the fact ors affecting farmers’ satisfaction from Water Users Associations (WUAs) in the Harran Plain-Turkey. The data used in this study come from a sample of 378 farmers among 23,204 in the Ş anlıurfa-Harran Plain. They were chosen via simple random sampling method and interviewed face to face. Sampling was conducted in 52% of the settleme nts. To analyze the collected survey data, SPSS 15 was used together with Kruskal Wallis, Mann-Whitney, Pearson Chi - square and the correlation tests. The results indic ated the existence of relationship between satisfaction and education levels, knowledg e level about WUA, and status of ownership, land area, age, farming experiences, inc ome, and service quality given by WUAs. These factors significantly explained satisfa ction of farmers. The average of variables’ highest satisfaction was calculated as 4 7.4%. The highest satisfaction was 68.5% and belonged to the status of ownership; the lowest one was 28.3% in the case of farming experiences. The managers of WUAs should be concentrating on these factors in order to increase satisfaction and provide training and information for farmers. Keywords: Agricultural irrigations, Participation, Sustainab ility status of ownership, Water management, WUA.