جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « Water conservation » در نشریات گروه « اقتصاد کشاورزی »

The main purpose of this study was to discover the obstacles to the water conservation behavior of farmers through Grounded Theory in Neyshabur plain. The participants consist of the leading farmers in Neyshabur plain, which were selected by purposeful sampling (30 participants). The data were collected through observation, semi-structured interviews, field notes, and documents. Data were coded and analyzed in 74 concepts and 22 categories. In the coding step, the paradigm model considers the lack of water conservation behavior (the main phenomenon), beliefs and misconceptions, fatalism, lack of understanding and responsibility for water scarcity as causal conditions of this phenomenon; dispersal of agricultural lands, financial-economic constraints, planning and government's poor management, lack of partnership and collective agreement, lack of education, lack of trust in experts and government officials from the main contexts of this phenomenon and lack of self-esteem farmers, weak supportive policies of the government, lack of communication between experts and farmers, and lack of livelihoods and benefits for farmers as interfering conditions. Irrigation infrastructure development, creating job security, changing the cultivation pattern, providing educational programs and government banking, and financial support were identified as strategies for this phenomenon. The consequences of this phenomenon were migration from rural to urban areas and institutionalization of water conservation behavior among farmers. The results of this study can provide mechanisms and strategies to remove barriers to agricultural water conservation behavior and perform more water conservation behavior.

Water and soil conversation is one of the most important issues in agriculture and food production. It is necessary to identify the limitations and barriers to the development of water and soil conservation technologies and to address them and achieve development goals through enhancing the adoption rate of these technologies by farmers. This study aimed at investigating the measures of soil and water conservation at the farm level as well as determining the factors influencing the adoption of these technologies. For this purpose, the factors affecting farmers' intentions in applying the water and soil conservation technologies and activities were analyzed through the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the path analysis technique. The model of path analysis technique confirmed the effects of attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control on the farmer's intention, and also showed that in addition to the obvious variables, some invisible variables had also such significant effects on the farmers’ adoption, which caused overlaps. According to the results, the variable of farmer's attitude had the most significantly positive effect on farmers' intentions in the water and soil conservation activities. Then, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms had significantly positive effects on the intention of the farmer to apply the water and soil conservation technologies.

Iran is facing severe water shortage.Modernization of irrigation systems and improving the efficiency of water use is typically presented as an opportunity for large water saving in the agricultural sector. For this reason, the Iranian government strongly supports the modernization of irrigation systems and has implemented many water-saving irrigation measures with the objective of improving water productivity and reducing agricultural water use. In this regard, some progress has been made. But total agricultural water use did not decline as expected. Thus, agricultural water use in Iran may experience a rebound effect. The hypothesis of a rebound effect as a consequence of water saving investments is taken from the Jevons paradox in energy economics. The objective of this study was to evaluate the magnitude of the water rebound effect (WRE) at farm level in Bakhtegan basin using corrected land allocation model and direct comparison approach. The results indicated that the magnitude of the agricultural WRE in Bakhtegan basin can fluctuate between 10.1% and 109.38%.

Concern over the depletion of natural resources in general, and water scarcity in particular, has stimulated the development and implementation of some policies aimed at changing farmer's behavior in terms of conserving water. In this regard, government has recently begun to invest on researches supporting the technical solutions on conserving water in the agricultural sector as the biggest consumer. However, the success of this policy is dependent on farmer side in terms of adoption and behavior through a voluntary action. The present study uses the norm activation model (NAM) as a theoretical basis to predict the personal norm and behavior regarding water conservation through a survey on 360 farmers selected using a multistage, stratified random sampling method in Selsele Township. Data was collected by using a researcher-made questionnaire. After preparing the questionnaire and ensuring its validity by experts, its reliability was confirmed by calculating Cronbach's alpha values for the variables investigated through a pilot study. Findings revealed that, two variables influenced on the personal norm toward water conservation namely ascription of responsibility and self-efficacy. Water conservation behavior, also was significantly determined by personal norm. Therefore, it is suggested that by increasing the awareness level coupled with the responsibility of farmers towards water issues, their ethical commitment on performing appropriate conservation behaviors would be strengthened. Also, delegating enough authority to farmers as well as providing facilities for maintenance, repairing and rehabilitation of water distribution networks and irrigation equipment can motivate farmers and encourage them to conserve water resources.