Farmers’ Perceptions toward Agricultural Water Confl ict: The Case of Doroodzan Dam Irrigation Network, Iran

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.