The Effect of New Communication Methods and Socio-Economic and Cultural Aspects on the Adoption of Modern Irrigation methods in the Midland- Syria
2020
Dareen ALYousef
There is no doubt that the low efficiency in water use by the agricultural sector, which is the largest consumer of water resources at the national level (89% of the total water consumption in Syria), is one of the causes of the water crisis, Where waste and misuse are clearly evident in this sector when following traditional irrigation methods, which can sometimes reach 60_55%. Given the pivotal importance of farmers in the process of preserving wasted agricultural water resources, the study of the factors surrounding it is of great importance to determine the extent of the impact of the farms on them. The aim of this research is to know and determine the factors that may influence farmers ’decision to accept or reject modern irrigation methods and techniques in the central region of the Syrian Arab Republic. To achieve the goals of the research, a research form was designed that was designed according to scientific foundations and principles as it included many personal, social, economic and cultural aspects for farmers in addition to communication aspects. A random sample of farmers with a size of 382 farmers was interviewed by the same researcher using this research form, Where distributed to these farmers who represent the study community. The results of the research showed that the rate of adoption of modern irrigation techniques in the study area is still modest despite the deployment of this technology by the government more than 30 years ago, as it was found that only 14.92% of the total study sample used modern irrigation in their crops, and the rest used irrigation Traditional. Spray irrigation has achieved the highest adoption rate, as it reached 68.42% compared to other modern irrigation techniques, and the oldest date for its use among farmers who were included in the research sample was in 1997 AD, followed by drip irrigation 52.63%, and the oldest date for its use was in 1995 AD, then irrigation Surface developed on the lines increased by 7.02%, and the earliest date of use was in 2000 AD. It also showed the existence of simple and significant correlation relationships of different degrees, between each of the dependent variable represented by the "degree of farmers' adoption of modern irrigation techniques" and a number of independent variables on the other hand, as it was found that there are direct correlations as follows related topersonal, social, economic and cultural variables, the most important of which : “Obtaining a loan from the Modern Irrigation Transformation Project”, “Soil Fertility”, “The Educational Level of Farmers”, “Ownership of Agricultural Machinery”, “The Role of Farmers in Society”, “self concept”, “Multiple Sources of Modern Irrigation Information”, “ Visit the farms for the extension unit. " It was also found that there are inverse correlations, the most important of which are: “Traditional quotes “family employment”, and “farm water availability”. Using the polynomial regression equation, the aforementioned variables were responsible for interpretation 86% of the changes in "the degree to which farmers adopt modern irrigation techniques" and the rest are due to other factors not observed in this research. Among the most important recommendations of this research: Encouraging farmers to obtain a loan for the transformation of modern irrigation project, promoting modern irrigation techniques among farmers using all possible means of communication, raising public awareness of farmers, focusing on the cultural aspect, in addition to avoiding conflict with pictures of farmers themselves.
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