An identification of challenges and requirements affecting the optimal water management in agriculture (the studied case: Mazandaran province)

Water is one of the important factors in agricultural sector and as the crucial factor of development and sustainability in agriculture, but nowadays water is limiter factor in this sector. Since the agricultural sector is the largest consumer of water, managing and increasing water efficiency is the most effective way to use the available water resources in this sector optimally. The purpose of this study was to investigate the various challenges and requirements in water management in Mazandaran province. The data of this qualitative study were collected using Delphi technique to reach group consensus. The population of the study consisted of 23 specialists in irrigation of agricultural. The study was conducted in three phases that finally presented 29 challenges and 24 requirements by experts. After eliminating the items with less than 80% agreement, there were 17 challenges and 17 requirements. The most important challenges included not choosing a suitable cropping pattern for each region and not using modern irrigation systems and most important requirements. These included were the use of agricultural mechanization and modern methods of irrigation and the role of agriculture education and extension.