Analysis of Factors Affecting Farmers’ Behavior in Using Low-Pressure Irrigation System in the East Azerbaijan Province

Proper irrigation management, particularly consumption management, is a key factor to ensure water security and consequently food security. One of the main mechanisms in optimization of water consumption management is the use of related technologies to achieve high productivity. In recent years, low-pressure irrigation system has been considered as one of the new methods to improve efficiency of surface irrigation. Therefore, present study aimed to analyze the factors affecting farmers' behavior in using low-pressure irrigation system in East Azerbaijan province. The statistical sample population consists of 393 farmers, out of 112010 farmers of East Azerbaijan province. This seems to be a sufficient sample of farmers due to the use of Cochran's formula and multi-stage sampling method. The 20th and 21th versions of SPSS and AMOS were used to analyze the data. In order to better understand the main factors influencing the behavior of low-pressure irrigation systems, the research model was based on the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB). The results of using structural equation modeling showed that DTPB had a suitable effectiveness and efficiency to predict farmers' behavior in using low-pressure irrigation system. In addition, variables including compatibility, advantages, facilitators, self-efficacy, the media, attitudes, subjective norms, and behavioral control were explained 63 percent of the variance changes for the dependent variable.