Farmers’ Attitudes and Behaviors towards Irrigation under Climate Change
Project no. 1001 · Status: Kapanmış · 2017
Summary
Since the agricultural sector is dependent on temperature and precipitation, it is the sector that will be most affected by climate change. Turkey is located in one of the fragile regions in the world that will be most affected by climate change. Therefore, it is expected that the pressure on the water resources of the climate change will be more, the increase in the temperature and the decrease in the precipitation will increase the salinization and there will be a significant decrease in the water resources of the country. It is important to consider the different conditions at the local level in adaptation to climate change. For this reason, it is necessary to determine and implement the most accurate and effective adaptation strategies and policies regarding irrigation in order to minimize the risks foreseen on a basin basis. Irrigation is one of the most important adaptation strategies in the agricultural sector. The main purpose of this research is to examine the current and potential practices of producers in the direction of irrigation against the risk of climate change and to develop policy recommendations for adaptation. The research was carried out in the Gediz Basin, where approximately 80% of the water demand is for agricultural irrigation and where significant temperature increases and precipitation decreases are expected in the projections regarding climate change. A survey was conducted with 166 producers in the Central, Turgutlu, Ahmetli, Salihli and Alaşehir counties of Manisa province, which constitute the research area. In the analysis of the data obtained from the surveys, methods such as Factor Analysis, Cluster Analysis, Grid Analysis and Best/Worst Analysis were used. In order to determine the dimensions underlying the farmers' attitudes towards irrigation, factor analysis was applied and six dimensions were obtained. The factor scores of these six dimensions were taken into account as variables in determining the producer groups in the cluster analysis. According to their irrigation attitudes, producers are divided into three different groups as “insensitive”, “environment-economy focused” and “alternative approach focused”. The most important criterion affecting the irrigation preference of the farmers in the research region is the low irrigation cost. In the irrigation method preferences of the farmers, the drip irrigation method takes the first place. It has been determined that approximately 55% of the farmers use the drip irrigation method. However, the producer group, which is called insensitive, prefers flood irrigation. The tendency of environment-economy-focused producers with climate change and irrigation awareness to implement all measures regarding the use of water resources is positive.