Content Analysis of the Problems and Challenges of Agricultural Water Use: A Case Study of Lake Urmia Basin at Miandoab, Iran
Seyed Reza Es’haghi, Hamid Karimi, Amirreza Rezaei, Pouria Ataei
Abstract
The present study aimed to identify the problems and challenges of water resources use by the agricultural sector. The research conducted a qualitative content analysis on documents and semi-structured interviews with experts and key informants in the study site of Miandoab, Iran. Based on the results, the challenges of water resources use for agriculture include (i) the problems related to water consumption management composed of two sub-categories of encouraging farmers to participate in water consumption management and the problems related to monitoring and controlling water consumption, (ii) the problems of water resources management including the sub-categories of inappropriate management perspective on water abstraction, the problem of managing unauthorized abstractions, the problems of the infrastructure of water allocation scheduling, and (iii) the problems of farmers’ traditionalism whose sub-categories are farmers’ incorrect habits and experiences, low awareness, low motivation, and poor knowledge, as well as the problems related to their farms.