Irrigation Water Managment Challenges of Wheat Growers in Khorrambid County

Agricultural sector is facing water resource deficit with conflicts intensifying over recent years. Management of irrigation water, as a common-pool resource, in Khorrambid county is primarily concerned with the socio-technical challenges which are rarely considered. This study was aimed at investigating irrigation water challenges of wheat growers. The population for this descriptive survey study was irrigated wheat growers of Khorrambid county. Data were collected by interviewing from 110 farmers, by means of structured questionnaire. The instrument’s validity was confirmed by panel of experts and the reliability of scales used were measured through a pilot study conducted out of study area. Alpha Cronbach’s coefficients were indicating an acceptable internal consistency. SPSS22 was used for data analysis. Results revealed that, managerial challenges of irrigation water were categorized to farm level, source level and canal level issues which were sorted by the value of their importance, respectively. Clustering wheat growers to two competent and incompetent farm managers shed light on the reality that the two groups were significantly different regarding their farm level challenges, income level, area under cultivation, wheat yield, experience, age and education status. To mitigate irrigation managerial challenges at farm level, land consolidation should be taken into account.