Abstract
Due to its location in the dry belt, the vast country of Iran has
always been faced with the problem of water shortages. In
such a climate one should take measures to increase the
productivity and improve the efficiency of irrigation through
expansion of water-conserving technology in the agricultural
sector, as this is the largest and most important consumer of
water. Therefore this study aimed at investigating factors affecting
the adoption and application of sprinkler irrigation technology
by farmers in the county of Famenin, Iran. Survey research was
the dominant approach. The statistical population consisted of
farmers 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. In
order to assess the validity of the questionnaire the opinions of
experts were used and to measure the reliability of the questionnaire
Cronbach’s alpha statistic was used (82%). The results showed
the adoption of sprinkler irrigation systems to be influenced by
environmental factors such as the area under cultivation, access
to water, water quality, and non-environmental factors such as
the workforce number in the family, employment diversity, and
participation in extension education and courses on agricultural
water management. Ultimately the logit model is estimated in
this paper. Adopters have also expressed reasons such as failure
to adequately train farmers for maintenance after system
installation, scientific and practical justifications, lack of availability
of efficient repairs, inappropriate design and implementation by
companies, low-quality components and fittings, clogging of
sprinklers due to salty water, non-compliance with environmental
conditions, difficulty using machines, the large area occupied
by these systems, transportation, parts shortage, lack of security
and the possibility of the theft of parts and fittings, and communal
ownership of water resources as their dissatisfaction factors.