Factors Affecting on Rice Farmer’s Participation in Water Resource Management; Case Study: Ilam, Iran

This research aims to study the factors affecting on rice farmers’ participation in water resource management in Iran. To this end, 150 rice farmers from the province of Ilam were selected by using Cochran formula. Data were collected by interviews and a proportional stratified sampling. Then, the data were analyzed by SPSS software and the impacts of individual, farming, social, and economic factors on farmer’s participation in water resource management were studied. The results indicate that there is a negative relationship between farmer’s participation in water resource management and farmers’ age, farming experience and rice-farming experience. In addition, farmersʹ education, total land area, rice land area, cooperation with local communities, participation in training courses, attitude to participation, annual income, and income earned from rice production have positive and significant influence on farmersʹ participation in water resource management. The results of the multiple regressions demonstrate that among factors of the model, attitude to participation, rice land area and cooperation with rural communities have significant effect on the dependent variable.