Potato Growers' Attitudes and Perceptions towards Precision Irrigation Technologies in Ardabil County, Iran
Subject Areas : Education and training
1 - گروه مهندسی آب و مدیریت کشاورزی، دانشکده کشاورزی و منابع طبیعی، دانشگاه محقق اردبیلی، ایران
2 - گروه مهندسی آب و مدیریت کشاورزی، دانشکده کشاورزی و منابع طبیعی، دانشگاه محقق اردبیلی، ایران
Keywords: barriers, attitudes, perceptions, drivers, precision irrigation,
Abstract :
This study aimed to investigate potato growers’ attitudes towards and perceptions of the drivers and barriers of precision irrigation technologies (PIT). A survey research method was employed for data collection from a sample of 240 potato growers of Ardabil County. A questionnaire was used as the research instrument. It was validated by a panel of experts. Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to be 0.813, 0.870, and 0.766, implying the high reliability of the instrument for attitudes, drivers, and barriers, respectively. Results showed that the respondents were in middle age with good farming experiences. The majority of them were lowly literate. Their knowledge was low on working with PIT. More than half of them had moderate to high negative attitudes, while the attitudes of the rest were somewhat very positive. Attitudes showed a significant and positive correlation with level of education, income, and knowledge of PIT. However, age, farming experience, and cultivated areas showed a negative correlation with attitudes. Based on regression analysis, the variables of level of education, knowledge of PIT, and information sources accounted for 46.5 percent of the variance in farmers’ attitudes. The sample was divided into two subgroups of 120 farmers, one for responding to the items of drivers and the other for responding to the items of the barriers. Factor analysis extracted three factors with eigenvalues of greater than one, namely water efficiency, easy farming practices, and financial benefit, which accounted for 63.18 percent of the variance in drivers, and the five factors of knowledge, technical, skill, managerial, and logistic barriers accounted for 63.12percent of the variance in barriers.
Adeoti, A. I. (2009). Factors influencing irrigation technology adoption and its impact on household poverty in Ghana. Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Tropics and Subtropics, 109(1), 51-63.
Afrakhteh, H., Armand, M., & Askari-Bozayeh, F. (2015). Analysis of factors affecting adoption and application of sprinkler irrigation by farmers in Famenin County, Iran. International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development, 5(2), 89-99.
Afshari, Z. (2009). Factors affecting attitudes and sustainable behaviors among cotton producers in Isfahan Province. MSc. thesis. Department of Agricultural Extension and Education (unpublished). Ramin Agricultural and Natural Resource University, Ahvaz. I.R. Iran. 215 p.
Alcon, F., Miguel, MD., & Burton, NM. (2011). Duration analysis of adoption of drip irrigation technology in southeastern Spain. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 78 (6), 991–1001.
Ali, M.H. (2011). Practices of irrigation and on-farm water management. Berlin: Springer. Retrieved from https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9781441976369
Ardakanian, R. (2005). Overview of water management in Iran. In: UNESCO (Ed.), Policies and Strategic Options for Water Management in the Islamic Countries: Proceedings of the Symposium organized by the Regional Centre on Urban Water Management (RCUWM-Tehran), 15-16 December 2003, Tehran. Iran, IHP-VI Technical Document in Hydrology No. 73. UNESCO, Paris, pp. 98-110.
Ashoori, D., Bagheri, A., Allahyari, MS., & Michailidis, A. (2016). Understanding the attitudes and practices of paddy farmers for enhancing soil and water conservation in Northern Iran. International Soil and Water Conservation Research, 4, 260–266.
Bagheri, A., & Ghorbani, A. (2011). Adoption and non-adoption of sprinkler irrigation technology in Ardabil Province of Iran. African journal of Agricultural Research, 6(5),1085-1089·
Bagheri, A., & Shabanali Fami, H. (2016). Potato growers’ risk perception: A case study in Ardabil Province of Iran. Journal of Agricultural Science and Technologies, 18, 55-65.
Chuchird, R., Sasaki, N., & Abe, I. (2017). Influencing factors of the adoption of agricultural irrigation technologies and the economic returns: A case study in Chaiyaphum Province, Thailand. Sustainability, 9, 1524, doi:10.3390/su9091524
Cochran, W. G. (1977). Sampling Techniques. John Willey and Sons, New York.
Evans, R.G., LaRue, J., Stone, K.C., & King, B.A. (2013). Adoption of site-specific variable rate sprinkler irrigation systems. Irrigation Science, 31(4), 871-887.
Ezzati, R., Asadi, A., Kalantari, KH., & Ranjbar, A. (2014). Obstacles hampering the application of pressurized irrigation technology from the perception of agricultural production cooperative members in Ardabil and Bilesavar townships. Cooperation and Agriculture, 9(1), 1-17 (In Persian).
FAO(2008). AQUASTAT Country Profile – Iran (Islamic Republic of). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Rome, Italy.
Forouzani, M., & Karami, E. (2010). Agricultural water poverty index and sustainability. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 31, 415-431.
Gockowski, J., & Ndoumbe, M. (2004). The Adoption of Intensive monocrop horticulture in Southern Cameroon. Agricultural Economics, 30, 195-202.
Hassanpanah, D., Khajavi, A., Karbalaei Khiavi, H., Aghazadeh, B., Aminzadeh, Gh., Ghasemi, M., & Ziachehreh, M. (2015). Five years program of cropping pattern of field crops and horticultural production of Ardabil County, Technical leaflet, No. 44, Retrieved from (2019) http://agrilib.areo.ir/book.pdf (In Persian).
Hair, J.F., Anderson, R.E., Tatham, R.L., & Black, W.C. (1998). Multivariate data analysis. 5th ed. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA.
He, X.F., Cao, H., & Li, FM. (2007). Econometric analysis of the determinants of adoption of rainwater harvesting and supplementary irrigation technology (RHSIT) in the semiarid Loess Plateau of China. Agricultural Water Management, 89 (3), 243-250.
Huang, Q., Ying, X., Kovacs, K., & West, G. (2017). Factors that influence the use of irrigation technologies and water management practices in Arkansas. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 49(2), 159–185.
Keshavarz, M., Karami, E., & Vanclay, F. (2013). Social experience of drought in rural Iran. Land Use Policy, 30, 120–129.
Kohansal, M. R., Ghorbani, M., & Rafiee, H. (2009). Environmental and non – environmental factors affecting on the adoption of sprinkler irrigation system, (Case study: Khorasan Razavi Province). Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development, 17 (65), 97-112 (In Persian).
Koundouri, P., Nauges, C., & Tzouvelekas, V. (2006). Technology adoption under production uncertainty: Theory and application to irrigation technology. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 88 (3), 657-670.
Mahboobi, M. R., Esmailie Aval, M., & Yaghoubi, J. (2011). Impeding and facilitating factors influencing on using new irrigation methods by farmers: Case of West Boshroyeh Township in Southern Khorasan. Journal of Water and Irrigation Management, 1(1), 87-98. (In Persian)
Mohammadi, AA., & Alipour, H. (2016). Investigating viewpoints of agricultural Experts of Tehran and Alborz Provinces on factors affecting development of modern irrigation systems. Water Research in Agriculture, 3 (31), 455-468 (In Persian).
Mohammadi, N., Mohtashami, T., & Karbassi, A. (2018). Factors affecting development of pressurized irrigation systems in Torbat-Heydarrieh region in viewpoints of experts. Iranian Journal of Agricultural Extension and Education Sciences, 14(1), 21-35 (In Persian).
Momvandi, A., Omidi Najafabadi,M., Hosseini, J.F., & Lashgarara, F. (2018). The identification of factors affecting the use of pressurized irrigation systems by farmers in Iran. Water, 10, 1532; doi: 10.3390/w10111532.
Mostakhdemi, R., & Razzaghi, M.H. 2(012). Identification of factors influencing non-adoption of drip irrigation among gardeners in Garmsar County. Journal of Agricultural Extension and Education Researches, 5 (4), 49-58 (In Persian).
Movahedi, R., Izadi, N., & Vahdat Adab, R. (2017). Investigating factors affecting farmers’ adoption of pressurized irrigation tchnology in Asadabad County, Hamedan Province. Journal of Water Research in Agriculture, 31(2), 287-300 (In Persian).
Nazari, B., Liaghat, A., Akbari, MR., & Keshavarz, M. (2018). Irrigation water management in Iran: Implications for water use efficiency improvement. Agricultural Water Management, 208, 7–18.
Nejadrezaei, N., Allahyari, MS., Sadeghzadeh, M., Michailidis, A., & El Bilali, H. (2018). Factors affecting adoption of pressurized irrigation technology among olive farmers in Northern Iran. Applied Water Science, 8 (190), 2-9.
Nowroozi, A. V., & Chizari, M. (2006). Cultural and social structures affecting on the attitudes of wheat growers in Nahavand County concerning development of sprinkler irrigation. Iranian Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 2, 59-71 (In Persian).
Nouri, M., & Nooripoor, M. (2013). Analysis of the reasons for delay in completion of irrigation and drainage network projects using problem tree tool: The Case of Kheyrabad. Iranian Agricultural Extension and Education Journal, 9 (1), 15-32 (In Persian).
O’Brien, R. M. (2007). A caution regarding rules of thumb for variance inflation factors. Quality & Quantity, 41, 673–690.
Oladele E.O. (2005). A Tobit analysis of propensity to discontinue adoption of agricultural technology among farmers in southwestern Nigeria. Journal of Central European Agriculture, 3(1), 249-254.
Pezeshkirad, Gh., Feli, S., Rasuli Azar, S., & Yaghubi, A. (2011). Factors affecting on non – adoption of sprinkler irrigation system by farmers in Mahabad County, in the West Azarbaijan Province. Journal of Agricultural Economic and Development, 19(73), 1-20 (In Persian).
Pirayesh, A. (2013). Factors affecting the non-adoption and development of pressure irrigation systems (Sprinkler irrigation), Paper presented at first national conference on sustainable agriculture and medicinal plants, College of Shahid Mofatteh, Hamadan, Iran. (In Persian).
Rahmani, S., Yazdani, S., Mahmoudi, A., Shoukatfadaei, M., & Souri, A. (2016). Factors affecting the adoption and development of pressurized irrigation cultivation using logit model (Case Study: Ardabil Province). Journal of Economic Growth and Development Research, 6 (23), 13-26 (In Persian).
Rogge, E., Nevens, F., & Gulinck, H. (2007). Perception of rural landscapes in Flanders: Looking beyond aesthetics. Landscape and Urban Planning, 82, 159–174.
Rostamzadeh, H., Asadi, E., & Jararzadeh, J. (2015) Evaluation of the groundwater table using multi-criteria decision making and spatial analysis, case study: Ardebil Plain. Journal of Spatial Analysis Environmental Hazards, 2(1), 31-42 (In Persian).
Shahzadi, E. (2013). Investigating factors influencing adoption of pressurized irrigation systems by farmers case study: Garmsar County, Iran. American-Eurasian Journal of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, 13 (1), 32-37.
Shaterian, M.; Eshnovaei, A., & Ganjipor, M. (2011). Adoption behavior of new irrigations by Kashan plain’s farmers (A case study: Abuzeidabad villages area). Proceedings of the Third Congress Plain Kashan Water Crisis, Kashan, Iran, 29 August, 85–99 (In Persian).
Sobhani, B., & Goldoost, A. (2016). Inspection of temperature alteration and it’s prediction possibility in Ardebil Province using statistical analysis and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system. Researches in Geographical Sciences, 16(42), 27-40 (In Persian).
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2007). Using multivariate statistics. (5th ed.). New York: Allyn and Bacon.
Tohidyanfar, S., & Rezaei-Moghaddam, K. (2015). Attitudes of farmers toward participation in irrigation and drainage projects: the structural equations. Iran Agricultural Research 34(1), 80-91.
Yigezu, Y. A., Ahmed, M. A., Shideed, K., Aw-Hassan, A., El-Shater, T., & Al-Atwan., S. (2013). Implications of a shift in irrigation technology on resource use efficiency: A Syrian case. Agricultural Systems, 118, 14-22.
Zhang, B., Fu, Z., Wang, J., & Zhang, L. (2019). Farmers’ adoption of water-saving irrigation technology alleviates water scarcity in metropolis suburbs: A case study of Beijing, China. Agricultural Water Management, 212, 349-357.