Research Article - (2013) Volume 3, Issue 1
1Department of Agricultural Management, Shoushtar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Iran
2Department of Agricultural Development, Tehran University, Iran
3Member of the Institute for Education Studies, Iran
4Department of Agribusiness, University Putra, Malaysia
5Department of Agricultural Development, Tehran University, Iran
One of the Iran problems is facing a shortage of freshwater resources. That much of the resources used in agriculture, water demand management in this sector is most important strategies for dealing with limitations of water resources. Water User Associations is possible water resources management in agricultural sector. The purpose of this study is investigates the sustainable ways in agricultural water management in Iran. This research paradigm is quantitative and this study is descriptive and applicatory. Statistical population of the study consisted of 120 experts from the Khuzestan Province who were taken census from. The main instrument of the study was questionnaire. Results show that six factors of education and facilitation (%16.02), financial support (%13.12), water availability (%9.36), proper structure (%7.16), transfer management (%6.94) and varieties of institution functions (%5.77) accounted for %58.39 of variance related to sustainability of agricultural water management institutions.
sustainability, water management, water user association, participative management
Water is the main and the most restricting product in Iranian agriculture [1]. Agriculture accounts for %92 of the water use[2]. Therefore it is essential to create an efficient management structure in water withdrawal and maintenance of the relevant facilities in agricultural sector. People should take care of their affairs in agricultural water [3]. This will lead to more optimized consumption and better efficiency. To meet this target, organizing water user associations that can promote water sustainability, optimized withdrawal, efficient drainage and irrigation networks and less dependency on the government is one of the main strategies in water withdrawal [4].
Khuzestan Province with a population of 6.4 million people in an area of 67,000 km2 is located in southwest of Iran. In 2000, 32 water user associations were established in an area of 130 hectares of cultivated farmlands with 8600 members. This paper explores the ways to improve the sustainability of such associations. The followings are some of the solutions and suggestions made by experts in this regard.
Omid et al (2008) believe that lack of government support, unsatisfactory results, influence of powerful groups, inappropriate plans for the region and broken government promises are the main factors contributing to unsustainable water associations. Previous bad experiences of participation, huge bureaucracy, lack of trust in villagers to carry out the projects and not using the local capacities are the main contributors to un-sustainability [1]. unclear structures for associations, vague responsibilities for associations, economic issues, unstable management term and variety in executing approaches are the barriers to Sustainability of Agricultural Water Management Associations in Iran [5].
the performance of water association members, qualifications of members of managing board such as; years of service, managerial experience, education, technical and job-related management, management expertise, social status[6], participative management should accept criticism and inform the members about the financial issues[7], design faults in canals, insufficient participation of farmers in difficult phases of design and canal building in unsuitable time[8], resistance against changes due to new conditions, elimination of government financial support and worn out water machinery[9], water scarcity, lack of water delivery, educational and credit problems, and lack of transparency for the positions of governmental and non-governmental organizations[10], governmental organizations, local organizations, economic problems of water users, insufficient participation among water users, being inattentive to proper education and promotion and insufficient delivery of water[11], knowledge, participation, economic incentives, social incentives, and mutual relations between organizations and farmers are the main reasons for the un-sustainability of the associations[12] are the barriers to Sustainability of Agricultural Water Management Associations in Iran.
Poverty and diverse systems of exploitations are among the main obstacles of sustainability [13]. Educational programs for representatives of water users and their staff will lead to sustainability [14]. Salman (1997) improving the expertise and knowledge of the related groups in regard to participation between them and water management and mapping an approach to do so have had a positive impact on all aspects of successful development and continuing activities of water users. In addition to these, boosting organizations and local leaders, in many cases, has led to the creation of water cooperatives [15].
Technical innovations as an essential factor and the four principles of encouraging local people, creation of rural and technical organizations, organizing participative associations in society and educating management staff in local levels play an important role in expanding innovations [16].
registering participative associations without clear economic liabilities, insecure credits and instruments, not having enough knowledge of the philosophy, principles, and values of cooperatives, insufficient education in securing credits, insufficient support of the government are among the main contributors of un-sustainability[17].
Farmers generally do not have the knowledge of improvement techniques required in water management. Therefore suitable education in all levels can improve water management in farmlands [18]. Empowering farmers with related agricultural education on preserving of water and soil resources will increase farmers’ knowledge of existing problems, leading to more participation of farmers in irrigation and securing costs of it [19,20].
The results of the researches clearly show that the major problems in developing associations are limited surface water resources, poor rural associations, mismanagement and allocation of credit constraints and lack of government support for the project, unsatisfactory results, and proposals that do not fit. Failure to fulfill the obligation, the provision of financial facilities and equipment on public sector, lack of proper management structure, lack of cultural programs and awareness, problems in holding educational classes and paying water rights are among the other reasons of unsustainable water user associations. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate ways to address the problems of sustainability of water user associations.
This survey is applied and descriptive research (non experimental). The overall objective of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the sustainability Agricultural Water Management Associations in Iran. The statistical population was 120 experts from the Ministry of Agriculture in Khuzestan Province who were taken census from. Data collection tool was a questionnaire which was verified by a panel of experts in terms of validity, content and structure. Reliability of the research instrument was established by the Cronbach alpha coefficient for different sections of the questionnaire, which represents the reliability coefficient for the survey instrument (0.87). The present study used Likert scale (from none (0) to very high (5)) to investigate the sustainability of the creation of water users associations. For data analysis, exploratory factor analysis was used to identify users associations sustainability strategies.
Checking individual characteristics of the experts
checking individual characteristics of the experts show that %31.7 of them were residing in Ahvaz, %10.8 in Behbahan, %8.3 in Gatvand and %9.2 in Shoush with an average age of 39.54. The highest frequency category was 30 to 35 years (%23.3). %76.7 of respondents had been living in the city and 55 percent have graduate-level education. %36.7 of them had majored in management and had an average of 16.28 years of experience in their respective organizations.
Strategies for water user associations sustainable
In rural development program planners and program implementers usually take great effort to make rural development projects, but are ignorant of the stabilizing benefits to rural communities. In associations of water users the ultimate goal is not building such associations, but the sustainability of long-term interests of the association to benefit rural communities and agriculture. In this section we review the mechanisms of the sustainability of water user associations.
Results show that the important solution is facilitating access to water user associations. In the next step, financial incentives should be provided for the associations in the region and the members should be informed about financial matters. At last, ways to price water based on the water volume used on the farm and prevent mismanagement have been presented. Table (1) shows the results.
Table (1) Prioritization of participants’ opinions on ways to sustain water user associations
In identifying effective strategies for sustainability of water user associations, factor analysis was used. To understand that whether the data for the analysis was appropriate, KMO coefficient and Bartlett test were conducted. Results showed that the data used for the analysis was appropriate.
(KMO = 0.746, Bartletts test = 1251.38, df = 435, Sig = 0.00).
Given appropriate data, the classification was done using principal component analysis approach. The results obtained indicate that six factors account for around %58.39 of the factors affecting the sustainability of water user associations. The results obtained indicate that six factors of education and facilitating training, financing, access to water, proper structure, transition management and functional diversity are among the essentials of the sustainability of water user associations. Results obtained are shown in tables (2).
Table (2): factors extracted with their especial value, variance percentage and cumulative variance
The first factor with the special value of 4.80 represents %16.02 of the variance related to factors. This factor, called education and facilitating training, shows that the main factors in sustainability of the associations are the training of the users and laying emphasis on practical education of water and pesticide use for the farmers, training the legal issues to cooperative members, training and maintenance of irrigation networks, informing the members on the management of the associations in regards to financial issues and planning educational programs to enable them attending the meeting.
The second factor with the especial value of 3.93 represents %13.12 of the variance related to sustainability of the associations. This factor, called the financing, lays emphasis on the financing of the associations, offers new mechanisms for financing, adequate funding, financial incentives for water user associations and has accuracy of the financial performance. This factor adopts the required ways for financing of the associations and has interest and benefits for the members; otherwise they would not be interested in participating in the meetings.
The third factor with the special value of 2.81 represents %9.36 of the variance related to factors affecting stabilizing the water user associations. This factor, called access to water, places emphasis on facilitating access to water needed by the associations, stability of the water share of the farmers and transparency of managing performance. To make an association stable and long-lasting, water needed for them should be easy to access as the reason why farmers participate in such associations is to have easy access to water.
The forth factor, called proper structure, represents %7.16 of the variance related to sustainability factors and place emphasis on the participation of the members in the associations in a proper framework. This factor pays attention to the legal registering of associations as legal entity and the creation of a structure in line with the traditional values and culture of the region.
The fifth factor, called transition management to water user associations, represents %6.94 of the variance related to stabilization of associations. This factor lay emphasis to the gradual transit of the network management to water user associations and the transit of responsibility of water irrigation networks to associations. Transfer a part of network management that lacks enough power may create the conditions for government presence, on the hand this may lead to the association takeover by the people who have strong connections with the government. Therefore total transfer should be taken into account.
The sixth factor with the especial value of 1.73 represent about % 5.77 of the variance related to stabilization. This factor, called functional diversity, points to the multipurpose of the associations and the coverage of several villages by them. This factor pays attentions to restrictions such as population threshold, access level, functional diversity and services in regard to stabilization of associations.
The results obtained by this research show that the main factor in the sustainability of water user associations is education and facilitating. Zarafshani et al (2008) believes that expanded educational programs for water users’ representatives are needed. Omid et al (2008) states the increasing of skills and knowledge of the related groups in all aspects has had a positive impact on the successful developing and continuation of the activities of the associations which is endorsed by this research. This second factor is financing which affects the funds, new financial mechanisms and securing credits for repairing and maintenance of the network. . In line with these findings, Mohammadi (2009) demonstrate that the main restriction in the sustainability of the water user associations is financial weakness. Ahmadvand et al (2009) believed that establishing financial incentives and control of performance accuracy is of importance. Also Maghsoudi et al (2012) name economic incentives as a major factor in the success of associations. Amini and Ramezani (2008) are of the opinion that economic factors in the effective participation of farmers are important. The third factor in the sustainability of the water user associations is access to water. Researches conducted by Zarei Dastgerdi et al (2007) mention the water scarcity in the regions as one the main factor of unsustainability. Najafi and Shirvaniyan (2006) states inadequate water distribution among water users as of one the major obstacles to sustainability. Also Azizi Khalkheili and Zamani (2009) underline the water limits of rivers as one the main factors of un-sustainability. The forth factor in sustainability of the water user associations is proper structure for participations of farmers. . In order to properly align the association structure with the values and traditions a legal structure is needed. Omid et al (2008) the number of people in one group belonging to the structure of the association is important. Shahroudi and Chizari (2008) believe that water user associations should have a simple structure in line with the region’s traditions. Maghsoudi et al (2012) is of the opinion that government interference will lead to an improper structure. Javan et al (2002) names qualifications and characteristics of board members, candidates and the selection process, board size, condition, and use of outside directors as factors which are significant in the sustainability of associations. Zarafshani et al (2008), the essential tasks of inciting local people, creating of rural and technical, organizing participative associations in society, training of management staff in local levels to play technical roles in the field of innovations are put together in a framework consisting of three parts; institutions for technical services, rural families or groups and middle organizations. The fifth factor in sustainability is transition management to exploiters. This factor lays emphasis to the gradual transfer of management to total responsibility to the exploiters. Amini and Ramezani (2008) show that one the main reasons of inefficiency and lack of exploitation is government interference in water management. Therefore total transition of management and responsibility is of key importance. Also Amini and Khayyati (2006) indicate that direct government interference in water management sector and agriculture led to lower participations of the farmers, decreasing sustainability. Therefore total transition of management is needed. The sixth factor in sustainability is functional diversity. Offering services in villages is usually affected by population threshold and level of access. Focus on just one function does not bring about the participation of villagers from all walks of life, leading to long-term problems for the association. Therefore functional diversity can be profitable for the association to help it survive.
According to the results, the following recommendations are presented to water users in order to sustain associations:
- Educational and promotional classes for water user associations members
- Articles of Associations of the associations should be set up in the form new cooperatives so that entrepreneurs participate in associations
- Services in the area of agricultural institutions such as distribution, marketing and distribution of consumer goods is delegated to associations
- Fully operational irrigation management transfer
- Financial institutions increase their support of water user associations
This research financed was Islamic Azad University, Shoshtar Branch.
