Causes and Consequences of the Conflict among Agricultural Water Beneficiaries in Iran

Masoud Bijani, Dariush Hayati, Hossein Azadi, Vjekoslav Tanaskovik and Frank Witlox
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Masoud Bijani: Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, College of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University (TMU), 1497713111 Tehran, Iran
Dariush Hayati: Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, School of Agriculture, Shiraz University, 7144165186 Shiraz, Iran
Hossein Azadi: Department of Geography, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Vjekoslav Tanaskovik: Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food of Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, 1000 Skopje, North Macedonia
Frank Witlox: Department of Geography, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 16, 1-22

Abstract: This study aimed to analyze the causes and consequences of agricultural water conflicts among agricultural water beneficiaries in the irrigation network of Doroodzan dam, Iran. This research applied mixed-method and descriptive analysis, which was done in two qualitative and quantitative phases. The results showed that the causes of water conflicts can be divided into two groups of controllable and uncontrollable factors. The findings revealed that the main causes of agricultural water conflict in the studied area were ‘water scarcity’, ‘drought’, ‘physical structure of the Doroodzan dam irrigation network’, and ‘mismatched size of the irrigation network with Doroodzan dam’s water capacity’ as uncontrollable factors. Furthermore, ‘weakness of governmental water management’, ‘lake for local management of water resources by farmers’, ‘government’s reluctance about farmers’ participation’, and ‘farmers’ reluctance to participate in water management’ were identified as controllable factors. In this study, most of the conditions identified as consequences of water conflicts had ‘socio-economic’ and ‘agro-environmental’ aspects. Finally, based on the findings, a model was designed to determine the causes and consequences of agricultural water conflict. To break the causes and consequences cycle of water conflicts in Iran’s agriculture, the most important solution is shifting from governmentality to governance in water resources management.

Keywords: water conflict; governmentality; governance; Iran’s agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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