Assessing the impacts of irrigation systems on agricultural sustainability: the perceptions of national experts in irrigation systems development

Irrigation systems have various impacts on agriculture in terms of their ecological, social and economic aspects. Understanding these effects may contribute to develop appropriate policies and strategies for sustainable agriculture. Accordingly, the present research was conducted to determine the impacts of irrigation systems development on agriculture in Tehran. A survey was undertaken with a sample of 72 experts and specialists of irrigation systems development selected using the Snowball technique as a non-probability sampling. The main research tool was a questionnaire the validity of which was reviewed by members of the expert group. Reliability of the questionnaire was obtained at 0.85. The results revealed that sustainable resource management, employee and income, environmental impacts, intuitional trust and development, mechanization, productivity, improvement of quality of life, expansion of land fields and improvement of population profile are all key impacts of irrigation systems development on Iranian agriculture. These factors could measure about 73.142 per cent of total variance.