Evaluation of effective factors on the performance of production cooperatives in the catchment area of Khuzestan province with emphasis on the management of irrigation and drainage networks

Cooperatives are one of the types of participatory management systems, which provide farmers with a role in decision-making and agricultural management by providing mechanisms. In this regard, water users' organizations are formed with the aim of reducing the role of government and increasing the role of water consumers and other local institutions in the management of irrigation networks and play a key role in optimal water consumption. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the factors affecting the performance of production cooperatives in the catchment area of Khuzestan with emphasis on the management of irrigation and drainage networks. The statistical population of the study consisted of all members of production cooperatives within the irrigation and drainage networks of Khuzestan (N = 5831). The sample size was determined using the sampling table of Bartlett et al. (2001) and by stratified random sampling method with proportional assignment (according to member production cooperatives), 361 people. The results of factor analysis indicate that the factors affecting the performance of production cooperatives in the catchment area of Khuzestan province include economic and financial, socio-cultural, legal-political, managerial and technical factors. The results of multi-criteria analysis using AHP technique also showed that the management criterion is the highest priority for the success of production cooperatives compared to other criteria. In fact, this finding shows that the prerequisite for the success of production cooperatives in Khuzestan is the improvement and empowerment of management structures in the areas of planning, organizing, coordinating, controlling, implementing and evaluating production cooperatives.