The effects of sprinkler irrigation system on copping with drought in Fars province

Sprinkler irrigation system is one of the most important rural development investment strategies that can have both direct and indirect impact on coping with drought. This study examines the effects of sprinkler irrigation system on coping with drought in Fars province. It points out the analysis of sprinkler system as a coping strategy that adopted by farmers in mitigating drought. A sample of 234 farmers was selected for interview and collected needed farm level data in 2011 by using a multistage random sampling method. To obtain the results multinomial logit was used. Based on the viewpoints of 30.8%, 46.2% and 16.2% of sampled farmers, the effectiveness of sprinkler system under drought condition are very large, large and medium respectively. The results showed that 29.9 percent of sampled farmers chose sprinkler irrigation system as a strategy to cope with drought. As well, multinomial logit regression demonstrated that income, loan and depth of well have positive and significant effect on the choosing of sprinkler irrigation system as farmer’s strategy to cope with drought. Finally the results revealed that sprinkler irrigation systems can considerably increase water productivity.