The Analysis of Farmers Economic Status under Drought Conditions in the East Of Zayandeh-Rud River Basin

The agriculture sector is the largest water consumer in arid and semi-arid areas. So water scarcity has an important effect on this section. Drought as one of the most important factors in making crisis in Zayanderud river basin (ZRB) has a deep effect on the agriculture sector. This study evaluates the drought effects on irrigation land and farmers profit on the east of ZRB by using SPI and CBA. The required data is collected by questionnaire and face-to-face interview with 140 farmers in the east of ZRB in 2013. At first we determined climatic scenarios by using Esfahan and Chadegan stations and SPI index during 1970-2012. After that the effects of wet, normal and dry scenarios are shown on streamflow and irrigation land. The results show that wheat, rice and safflower that depend highly on river, decrease on land area sequentially in scale of 68%, 92% and 51%. In addition the decrease of profit of these products are sequentially equal to 13858, 520 and 6103 million Tomans That should use increasing the productivity and irrigation efficiency utilizing ways such as farm tubing- that has lower cost and risk in relation to rain irrigation for farmers.