Masoud Yazdanpanah

Understanding farmers' intention and behavior regarding water conservation in the Middle-East and North Africa: A case study in Iran

There is a high risk of serious water shortages in Middle-East and North African countries. To decrease this threat water conservation strategies are gaining overall importance and one main focus is now on farmers behavior. Among other dimensions it is assumed that normative issues play an important role in predicting environmental oriented intentions and actual actions. To empirically test the possible interactions the Theory of Planned Behavior was used, revised and expanded for the specific case on water management issues and applied to Iranian farmers. The results could not validate the TPB framework which emphasizes the importance of perceived behavioral control for intention and actual behavior and findings are much more in line with the Theory of Reasoned Action. Normative inclinations as well as perception of risk are found to be important for intention as well as actual water conservation behavior. Additionally, the importance and linkages of the dimensions are found to be different between sub-groups of farmers, especially between traditional water management farmers and those who already using advanced water management strategies. This raises the question if one-fits-all behavioral models are adequate for practical studies where sub-groups may very much differ in their actions. Still, our study suggests that in the context of water conservation, normative inclination is a key dimension and it may be useful to consider the role of positive, self-rewarding feelings for farmers when setting up policy measures in the region.

Coping with Drought

The slow-onset disasters, like drought, consistently deplete farmers’ resources at a faster rate than they can be replenished. Drought has been a recurring phenomenon in the southern regions of Iran and it has repeatedly been a leading cause of declining production and great human suffering. In view of the fact that poor and small farmers are more vulnerable, it is expected that they would be the main victims of such conditions. Investigation of rural poor strategies in drought conditions and assessing the impact of the governmental interventions to mitigate the drought consequences, especially on the poor state, constituted the main objectives of this study. Case study was the research method and an in-depth interview was used as the main technique of data collection. Findings revealed that farmers’ attitude towards drought was mostly metaphysical rather than physical and environmental. Poor farmers were harshly affected by the drought. It hurt them not only because of their attitude or belief, but also because of their low socio-economical position. Moreover, governmental interventions worsen the poor farmers’ situation because they treated all the farmers’ homogeneously. Much of governmental supportive services were benefited by non-poor farmers. On the contrary, the poor farmers’ who were in dire need, benefited the least. Therefore, governmental interventions fail to support the poor farmers, because it considers all stratums similar and it only focuses on productive policies. Some recommendations are pre-sented at the end of the article based on research findings.

Water management from tradition to second modernity: An analysis of the water crisis in Iran

This article reflects on the fundamentals of first and second modernity and its usefulness and practicability for problem formulation and solving in the context of water management practices in Iran. It is argued that the current water crisis in Iran resulted from modernization based on first modernity paradigms, and second modernity concepts are used to present a framework for new water management approaches. Based on the concept of sub-political arrangements, we suggest that water management issues can be treated best in process-based ways under a reflexive modernity point of view.

A new enemy at the gate: Tackling Iran’s water super-crisis by way of a transition from government to governance:

Iran faces a water crisis so severe that much of its land has ceased to be productive. Since Iran has coped with water shortages for thousands of years, it would seem that something has been lost in the abandonment, over the past half-century or so, of traditional practices in favour of modern ones. A comparison of the socio-technical systems inherent in the traditional practices with those that accompany the modern ones reveals a striking loss of institutional plurality. It also suggests the remedy: a switch away from ‘government’ (in which state actors prescribe and firms, farms and households comply) to ‘governance’ (in which state actors are in two-way and constructive engagement with actors from both the market and civil society).

Climate change discourse among Iranian farmers

Climate change poses a severe threat to agriculture and rural populations around the world, with the potential to devastate lives and livelihoods. Farmers need to adapt their farming methods and land management decisions to reduce the negative consequences associated with climate change. Understanding farmers’ beliefs and perceptions regarding climate change is a good starting point for addressing current and future policy. As there is no one-size-fits-all strategy to promote adaptation, local adaptation-support strategies must be tailored to the particular needs and constraints of specific groups of farmers. To determine the policy implications of such strategies, a prudent and cost-effective approach is to categorize farmers into homogenous groupings using Q methodology to establish their perceptual frameworks with respect to climate change. Forty six farmers completed the Q sort procedure in this study. Data analysis identified that there are three different types of farmers’ attitudes to climate change: fatalism, support seekers, and technocrats. These findings are critical for decision makers to help them develop more appropriate adaptation strategies for the agricultural sector.