Assessing Attitudes of the Rural Populations of Khorasan Razavi Province to Watershed Management Programs

Document Type : Research

Authors

1 - Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Department, AREEo, Mashhad, Iran

2 Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Department, AREEo, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

The success of soil conservation and watershed management programs requires the understanding of individuals’ attitudes towards these programs. Therefore, the goal of the current study was evaluation of the attitude of the residents towards watershed management practices in the rural areas in the Khorasan Razavi Province using a cross sectional survey. The required data were collected from 60 respondents who were randomly selected in two watersheds through personal interviews by a questionnaire. Descriptive and factor analysis were used to analyze the data. Findings showed that the knowledge level of the respondents about watershed management practices were satisfactory. Also, the acceptance level of watershed residents was moderate. Factor analysis showed that priorities of the residents towards watershed management programs were the economic, social, and educational service items. Data analysis discovered that these factors explained 66% of the variation of reactions to the programs.

Keywords

References

Adib S, Rousta K. 2014. Assessment of the attitude of greenhouse owners in South Khorasan Province towards factors, of knowledge and agricultural information system. Agricultural Extension and Education Research. 7(3): 13–27. (In Persian).

Ashoori D, Bagheri A, Allahyari MS, Michailidis A. 2016. Understanding the attitudes and practices of paddy farmers for enhancing soil and water conservation in Northern Iran. International Soil and Water Conservation Research. 4(4): 260–266.‏

Bagherian R, Goodarzi M, Bagherian Kalat A, Soltani MJ. 2014. Factors influencing people’s participation in watershed management programs. Extension and Development of Watershed Management. 2(7): 21–28. (In Persian).

Bagherian R, Goodarzi M, Sanaei Torqabah M, Bagherian Kalat A. 2017. Investigation on dimensions of people’s participation in watershed management programs; using factor analysis. Iran-Watershed Management Science & Engineering. 2(3): 1–10. (In Persian).

Bagherian R, Samah B, Samah A, Ahmad S. 2009. A social exchange approach to people's participation in watershed management programs in Iran.‏ European Journal of Scientific Research. 34(3): 428–441.

Falsafi P, Daryaei N, Jangchi, Kashani S. 2017. Farmers’ attitudes toward Education-extension courses on the conservation, reclamation, and development of natural resources: A case study of Miandasht rural district Kashan. Journal of Land Management. 4(2): 203–213. (In Persian).

Garcia X. Muro M.  Ribas A. Llausàs A. Jeffrey P, Saurí D. 2013. Attitudes and behaviours towards water conservation on the Mediterranean coast: the role of socio-demographic and place-attachment factors. Water International. 38: 283–296 DOI: 10.1080/02508060.2013.794641.
Hematzadeh Y, Khalighi N. 2006. Effective factors survey on lacke of participation of users in pasture and watershed management design. Case study: user of Kchik reagent sphere in Golestan Province. International Journal of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. 13(4): 15–30. (In Persian).
Liu J, Yun L, Liya S, Zhiguo C, Baoqian B. 2010. Public participation in water resources management of Haihe River Basin, China: The analysis and evaluation of status quo. Procedia Environmental Sciences. 2(4): 1750–1758.‏

Khaksar Moghaddam G, Abedi Sarvestani A, Mahboobi MR. 2017. Attitude towards water among rural women. Case study: Shirvan county of North-Khorasan Province. Journal Management System. 4(14): 25–36. (In Persian).

Moghaddasi N, Sheikh VB, Najafinejad A. 2015. Qualitative evaluation of watershed management projects using descriptive-correlation method (Case study: Boostan Dam Watershed). Water and Soil Conservation. 22(2): 205–217. (In Persian).

Mohammadi Golrang B, Lai FS, Sadeghi SHR. 2017. Evaluation of variables affecting people's participation in soil pasture and watershed management projects (Case study: Kouskabad Watershed in Khorasan Razavi). Journal of Research & Rural Planning. 6(1): 49–68. (In Persian).

Nyssen J, Poesen J, Gebremichael D, Vancampenhout K, D’aes M, Yihdego G, Govers G, Leirs H, Moeyersons J, Naudts J, Haregeweyn N, Haile M, Deckers J. 2007. Interdisciplinary on-site evaluation of stone bunds to control soil erosion on cropland in Northern Ethiopia. Soil and Tillage Research. 94(1): 152–163.

Raie S, Hamraz S. 2015. An application of discriminant analysis to determine the effective factors on beneficiaries’ attitude to watershed activities (Case study: Kelestan Watershed area in Fars Province). Journal Management System 1(2): 29–40. (In Persian).

Rezaei R, Vedadi E,  Mehrdoost K. 2012. Studying the effective factors on participation of rural people in watershed plans of Khomarak Basin (Case study: Deh Jalal Village) Rural Research. 3(9): 199–221. (In Persian).

Salehpour Jam A, Sarreshtehdari A, Tabatabaei M. 2017. Prioritizing preventing factors affecting on stakeholders' participation in watershed plans based on experts' idea. Case study: Watershed area surrounding city of Tehran. Journal of Watershed Engineering and Management. 9(4): 441–450. (In Persian).

Shafiee F, Rezvanfar A, Hossini SM, Sarmadian F. 2008. Opinion survey on soil conservation practices (The case study of Karkheh and Dez Watershed's Farmer's Attitude, Khuzestan, Iran). Iran-Watershed Management Science & Engineering. 2(3):69–75. (In Persian).

Sreedevi T, Wani S, Sudi R, Patel M, Jayesh T, Singh S, Tushar S. 2006. On-site and off-site impact of watershed development: A case study of Rajasamadhiyala, Gujarat, India. Global Theme on Agro-ecosystems Report No. 20, Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, pp: 1–44.
Varua ME, Maheshwari B, Ward J, Dave S. 2017. Groundwater conservation attitudes, behavior and water management: The case of farmers in rural india. Transactions on Ecology and the Environment. 220: 141–150.‏

Yousefi Hajivand R, Ghanian M, Baradaran M, Ramezani L. 2015. Analysis of factors influencing the attitude of rural households of Shadegan Wetland on agrobiodiversity. Rural Development Strategies. 1(4): 109–126. (In Persian).

Zare Chahouki MA. 2010. Data analysis in the study of natural resources research using SPSS software. Tehran University. 310 pp. (In Persian).

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 12 February 2018
  • Revise Date: 05 May 2018
  • Accept Date: 24 July 2018

Share

How to cite

Statistics