Investigating the Strategies of Sustainable Management of Agricultural Water Resources in Lorestan Province

Due to the occurrence of droughts during recent decades and their direct impact on the agricultural sector, proper management of agricultural water resources is of particular importance. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of identifying and prioritizing strategies for sustainable management of agricultural water resources in Lorestan province. In this study, quantitative-qualitative and exploratory approaches were employed as the main research method. The qualitative section of the study was based on Grounded Theorizing. In the first stage of Grounded Theorizing, 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted with water resources management experts. The major objective of this stage was to identify the solutions. The results of this stage revealed that there are 44 solutions for sustainable water resources management that can be categorized in four "educational-cultural", "supportive-institutional", "economic", and "technological" components. In the second stage, the Delphi-fuzzy technique was used in two stages to reach an agreement among the experts and to prioritize the identified steps. The most important solutions in each step were including, comprehensive support of innovative ideas about reducing water consumption in the agricultural sector, directing water to groundwater aquifers to conserve water from winter rainfall for use in low water seasons, strengthening farmers' perception towards water shortage by providing training courses on sustainable water resources management strategies and cultivation of low-water crops, and guaranteed purchase of these products from farmers to prevent the cultivation of irrigated crops. According to the results, research, the institutionalization of water conservation culture based on education, is the main implication of achieving sustainable agricultural water management in Lorestan province.