Barriers against the participatory management of irrigation water resources as viewed by executive managers and experts

Employing the Q-methodology, this article addresses the barriers hindering the realization of the participatory management of irrigation water resources as viewed by the executive managers and experts at Gilan Regional Water Authority, Agricultural Jihad Organization, and Gilan University. The research findings indicate that the viewpoints regarding the barriers may be classified into the three institutional-structural, technical-hardware, and cultural-software categories. Accordingly, the following provisions and measures may be proposed to overcome these barriers: 1) Revision and modification of the governance system at the Ministry of Energy to allow for participatory management of irrigation systems; 2) disambiguation of the laws pertinent to water resources in favor of more transparent ones and spelling out the status of the bodies in charge of irrigation; 3) using public-private partnerships to finance schemes designed and implemented to improve and rehabilitate irrigation and drainage facilities; 4) mobilizing public funds toward projects that encourage and attract matching local private investments; and finally, 5) educating farmers and raising awareness among them on government policies and objectives in the field of water, water crises at the global and national levels, the need for transferring irrigation management to users and stakeholders and the principles and objectives behind irrigation associations and bodies.