An Investigation of the Factors Affecting the Development of Irrigation Systems: A Case Study of Behbahan County, Iran

One of the main obstacles in agricultural progress and rural development in Iran is the issue of water shortage. The optimal use of water in increasing agricultural products is an essential task in arid and semi-arid regions like Iran. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors affecting the development of irrigation systems in relation to farmers that accepted the sprinkler irrigations. The research was conducted as a survey study. The statistical population was the farmers who use the sprinkler irrigation systems in Behbahan county in Iran (N= 150). After conducting a pilot study for each structure separately, the reliability of questionnaire was calculated by Cronbach Alpha Coefficient which was more than 0.7. The result of research showed that in farmers'' viewpoint, the most important variables influencing the farmer’s decision for development of irrigation systems were: meeting with farmers that have the new irrigation systems, reducing the water costs, increasing of production and etc. The results of factor analysis showed that the factors affecting the development of sprinkler irrigation system included: extension-support, technical-infrastructure, economic and user skills factors. These factors have explained 60% of total variance of tendency of farmers to develop the irrigation systems.