Analysis of Factors Affecting Adoption and Application of Sprinkler Irrigation by Farmers in Famenin County, Iran

Due to its location in the dry belt, the vast country of iran hasalways been faced with the problem of water shortages. insuch a climate one should take measures to increase theproductivity and improve the efficiency of irrigation throughexpansion of water-conserving technology in the agriculturalsector, as this is the largest and most important consumer ofwater. therefore this study aimed at investigating factors affectingthe adoption and application of sprinkler irrigation technologyby farmers in the county of famenin, iran. survey research wasthe dominant approach. the statistical population consisted offarmers in the famenin county, and, using cochran’s formula,280 of them were selected through multi-stage stratified random-sampling equally among adopters and non-adopters. inorder to assess the validity of the questionnaire the opinions ofexperts were used and to measure the reliability of the questionnairecronbach’s alpha statistic was used (82%). the results showedthe adoption of sprinkler irrigation systems to be influenced byenvironmental factors such as the area under cultivation, accessto water, water quality, and non-environmental factors such asthe workforce number in the family, employment diversity, andparticipation in extension education and courses on agriculturalwater management. ultimately the logit model is estimated inthis paper. adopters have also expressed reasons such as failureto adequately train farmers for maintenance after systeminstallation, scientific and practical justifications, lack of availabilityof efficient repairs, inappropriate design and implementation bycompanies, low-quality components and fittings, clogging ofsprinklers due to salty water, non-compliance with environmentalconditions, difficulty using machines, the large area occupiedby these systems, transportation, parts shortage, lack of securityand the possibility of the theft of parts and fittings, and communalownership of water resources as their dissatisfaction factors.