Constructive Analysis about the Factors and Barriers in Rejection of New Irrigation Methods by Farmers (Case Study: Miandoab County)

The foundation of rural economy is based on agricultural activities and irrigation is one of the oldest issues (especially in areas with scarce rainfall) in agriculture. Thus، most parts of Iran is located in arid (dry) and semi- arid continents of the world and improper distribution of rain in time and place، shortage of water resources and transmission of it from long path are basic challenges of this part. Hence، water resource management and increment of irrigation efficiency and efficiency utilization of water (as agriculture-based development) becomes more and more important. One of the available solutions is application of pressurized irrigation systems introduced recently as innovations to farmers. The geographical range of the study area of the present research is Miandoab County. It is located in southeast of west Azarbaijan Province and lies in geographical coordinate of 36˚ 44'' to 37 ˚18'' N and 45˚ 36'' to 45˚ 46'' E. Based on De Martonne climatology model، the study area is lying in semiarid continent category. The major part of this county is alluvial plain with 2233 square kilometers، 13 percent of total area of country. Up to 19403 of beneficiaries are located in 80611 hectares of cultivation lands in this county and from this space 66. 18 percent are cultivated by water and the rest is dry. The present analytical-descriptive research attempts to identify the effectiveness of social-economic factors in admission pressurized irrigation system conducted with scaling method in Miandoab County. For this، in the random sampling of 162 beneficiaries of modern irrigation of this county using of Cochran formula، 80 farmers and those who used the methods of traditional irrigation were selected. We used the questionnaire for data collection about social variables (age، education، habitat، basic profession، propagation and explanation and private interests) and economic variables (land area، the number of land pieces، the number of machinery، governmental credits، providing cheap power and water sources limitations). These are the drawbacks and factors of admission between two beneficiary groups. They are in accordance with scales of these variables of statistical sample in SPSS application. Agricultural development and economic growth in developing countries were affected by quality and quantity of water resources. In Iran، from 93. 3 percent of utilized water 93 percent was devoted to agriculture. With regard to critical situation and water resources reduction، it is necessary to increase the efficiency of utilized water in farms by converting the surface irrigation methods into modern or pressurized methods as basic solutions. The most advantageous property of using the pressurized irrigation system is sustainability of ecosystem. At first، this reduces the water dissipation، then reduces the cost of water transmission from long path (remote) and، at last، drawbacks the soil erosion. The efficiency of dropping pressurized irrigation systems is more than 90 percent and rainy system is more than 80 percent. The efficiency of traditional irrigation is less than 40 (fourteen) percent. With the mentioned advantages، there is no sufficient tendency for investing in this project. It can be because of the fact that the responsible entities of agricultural and rural developments or own farmers do not pay attention to this problem. For this، we studied the rules of social-economic factors in admission of pressurized irrigation systems in Miandoab County. 1. Economic factors are (land area، the number of land''s lots، the number of agricultural machinery، limitation of water sources، enjoying of governmental credits، and etc.). Originally، pressurized irrigation systems are designed for big lands of average scale and the initiation of these systems are not economical in minor scale units. Remarkably، pragmatics of innovative systems increases the rate of production. The amount of irrigated wheat production of beneficiaries has been increased in the period of before performance from 4. 43 tons/hectares to 5. 74 tons/hectares. The output average of sugar beet with increase in 56. 75 percent reached to 73. 62 tons/hectares. 2. Social factors: On the other side، the beneficiaries of pressurized irrigation systems in comparison with traditional beneficiaries have younger age average and high education، and their basic profession is agriculture. They have tendency to urbanization and they are imposed to more propagation and promotion. They accepted the risk and were interested in agricultural mechanism. The age average of innovative beneficiaries (48. 91) is lower than the traditional ones (54 years). On the other hand، in the studied population، only 75 percent of modern beneficiaries and 35 percent of traditional beneficiaries are literate. The rate of land ownership of innovative beneficiaries (27. 99 hectares) about 3 times is more than the traditional ownership (9. 34 hectares). On the other hand، modern beneficiaries are more interested in mechanization and they are mostly welcomed to agricultural explanation program for traditional farmers. Generally، social and economic factors of innovation adoption have differences between modern and traditional beneficiaries and the admission of these innovative systems accelerated the production per unit level. After 19 years from the arrival of the modern irrigation systems to this county، slow procedure is clear in its admission by farmers. As from the 2. 83 percent of cultivation lands of this county، 58 percent are supplied with these systems by the farmers. The contrastive social-economic and structural factors of admission of this innovation in Miandoab County indicate that: among 15 defined variables (9 economic variables and 6 social variables) economic variables are affected more than social variables in system''s admission. Admission of pressurized irrigation in modernization and agricultural development are affected by procedural model of that. Emission and admission of modern technologies of individual factors and innovator characteristics and innovation received system or structural factors affect the admission of these systems. Generally، social-individual variables such as age، education، basic profession، habitat، propagation and explanation، private interests and economic factors as farm indicator، machinery possession، governmental credits، providing cheap power، government support and cooperation in performance and limitation of water resources have significant effect on the admission of these pressurized systems.