Factor Affecting the Sustainable Management of Agricultural Water

Subject Areas : Environmental policy and management

Masoud Samian ¹ , Karim Naderi Mahdei ² , Heshmatollah Saadi ³ , Hamid Balali ⁴ , Reza Movahedi ⁵

1 - Ph.D. Student, Agricultural Extension and Education Department, College of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran.
2 - Assistant Professor Agricultural Extension and Education Department, College of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran
3 - Associate Professor, Agricultural Extension and Education Department, College of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran..
4 - Assistant Professor Agricultural Extension and Education Department, College of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran.
5 - Assistant Professor Agricultural Extension and Education Department, College of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran.

Received: 2014-01-31 Accepted : 2014-06-14 Published : 2014-12-01

Keywords: Sustainable Management, Agricultural water, multiple regression, Farmers irrigated wheat, Hamedan City,

Abstract :

The main purpose of the study was to investigate the factors affecting the sustainable management of agricultural water in Hamedan. The study population included all wheat farmers possessing irrigated farms in Hamedan city (N=1800). Of these farmers a sample of 317 people has been selected by using randomized multi-stage sampling method. The data were collected through a questionnaire's tool with help of the interview technique. Accuracy of the questions in the questionnaire was face validated by a panel of specialists. To test the reliability of the questionnaires, the questionnaires were first given to 30 farmers and Cronbach's Alpha was calculated (Alpha=0.92) then the questionnaire was finalized. Data analyzing methods such as Multiple Regression and the coefficient of variation (CV= standard deviation /mean) were used in this study. To determine the level of sustainability of the farms Bossel (1999) method proposed for classification and grading the fields was used. The results showed that variables agronomic factors, policy factors and institutional factors were able to explain 34 percent of the dependent variable's changes (sustainable management of agricultural water). According to the results, 95.3 percent of the farmers were categorized into unsustainable group, 4.1 percent into semi-sustainable and only 0.6 percent in sustainable group.