Factors Affecting Farmers Participation in Irrigation Management: the Application of Path Analysis

The main portion of water is consumed by agricultural section in the world. With regards to drought crisis, farmer's participation (FP) in irrigation management can play important role in increasing irrigation water productivity. Farmer's participation decreases public costs for building and maintaining irrigation networks, furthermore, increases their responsibility and ownership feeling towards protecting and use of irrigation networks. This research was conducted to determinate the factors affecting FP in irrigation management by use of path analysis technique on Doroodzan Dam Irrigation Network in Fars province, Iran. Descriptive research method with survey technique, for collecting data, was applied. Multi-stage stratified random sampling was used to select 270 farmers as the research subjects. The research findings showed that farmer's attitude towards participation and problem perception had the greatest direct affect on FP in irrigation management. Farmer's sociability and attitude towards personnel of Extension and Agricultural Service Centers had the greatest indirect affect on FP in irrigation management, and showed the greatest direct affect on farmer's attitude in this regards. Based on the research findings, applicable recommendations were made such as: inducing positive attitude toward participation as well as toward executive organizations by meaningful performance and offering feedback of activities to the farmers; and also increasing their perception toward problems through delivering training sessions and direct contacts.