Educational Needs Assessment of Agriculturalists with Pressurized Irrigation System with Water Scarcity Adaptation (Case Study: Qazvin Province)

Sustainable use of water resources is now the challenge of the century, especially in arid and semi-arid countries. The use of pressurized irrigation systems improves the water productivity of plants if used properly. This study was to assess the educational needs assessment of agriculturalists with pressurized irrigation system with water scarcity adaptation. The three-dimensional model of Kauffman, Corrigan, and Johnson, and the Delphi method were used for the educational needs assessment of agriculturalists. The findings showed that agriculturalists' knowledge and skills in terms of "agriculturalists", "experts" and "trainer" were 3.11±1.26, 2.26±0.76, and 2.24±0.81, respectively for farmers and 3.69±1.1, 2.31±0.75, and 2.45±0.87 (out of 5 points), respectively for horticulturists. Knowledge of agriculturalists in most educational needs, especially from the point of view of experts and trainers, is below average (score 3). The most important educational needs based on three perspectives were "determination of irrigation time with new tools and technologies", "specific irrigation mode for each crop" "adaptation of farm management with irrigation system type" for farmers, and "water loss reduction in irrigation ponds", "specific irrigation mode for each crop" and "how to operate pressurized irrigation systems" for horticulturists. The results of this study showed the priorities of defining the headings and training courses for agriculturalists with a pressurized irrigation system. The findings also showed that agriculturalists are aware of the importance and necessity of education and that for effective education future research should focus on identifying educational practices appropriate to the climate, cultural, and social conditions.