Abstract:
Water conflict is considered as one of the major cha
llenges in agricultural water
management. "Agricultural water conflict" is a term
describing disputes and differences
among water stakeholders over an access to water re
sources in the agricultural sector.
The purpose of this paper was to investigate farmer
s’ viewpoints toward agricultural
water conflicts. A descriptive correlation method w
as adopted and the study was
conducted in Doroodzan dam irrigation network in Fa
rs province, Iran. Multistage
stratified random sampling was used to collect data
from 294 farmers. The research tool
included a questionnaire whose validity was confirm
ed by a group of professionals. A
pilot study was conducted during which the Cronbach
's alpha test was calculated to
determinate the reliability of data collection inst
rument. Findings revealed that, among
the groups involved in water conflicts, the main co
nflict was between farmers and the
government. Farmers in downstream were the main los
ers in water distribution. The
dominant water conflict was "latent" as well. The m
ain reasons for agricultural water
conflict were "water scarcity", "drought", and "the
kind of water management".
Farmers' satisfaction toward water management was "
low". Farmers’ age, education
levels, satisfaction toward water management, and a
ttitude toward geographical and
climatic conditions had a significant relationship
with agricultural water conflict.
Keywords
: Agriculture, Doroodzan, Farmers, Water conflict.
