Barriers of adopting the modern irrigation systems in the Medina in Saudi Arabia

This study aimed at identifying the obstacles to the adoption of modern irrigation systems in Medina, KSA. The technical and economic constraints were identified and the degree of knowledge of farmers on these irrigation systems was determined. The objectives of the study were achieved through the application of descriptive statistical analysis and distribution of Bmilloli, that is also known as the binomial probability distribution. The study revealed that: (1) Despite the farmers have high degree of knowledge on the innovative irrigation methods, still more than 67% of the sampled population use the flood irrigation method, whereas only 33% of them employ drip irrigation and the other modern irrigation methods; (2) As high as 82% of the farmers faced technical obstacles in adopting the modern irrigation systems whereas 3.01 % of them faced the problems on the blockage of drippers, 3.0 % on filters, and 2.92% on springs; (3) Only 6.6% of the farmers were faced with the technical problems while using modern irrigation systems. However, the level of technical problems experienced by the 53.9% of the farmers was medium to high at the 95% confidence interval; (4) About 7.6 % of the farmers faced the economic problems in getting the modern irrigation systems installed at their farms and 92.4% of the farmers faced with the middle level economic problems in this respect at the 95% confidence interval; (5) Lack of funding from banks or the companies remained the most important economic constraints, with an average account amounted to 4.64 and 4.61 each, respectively, (6): A positive correlation between some personal characteristics and the variables of the study was observed. The study recommends establishing a Fund for Agricultural Development Programme to enable farmers to practice the judicious use of water resources for agricultural purposes. Provision of this sort of funding would help farmers replace the traditional irrigation systems with the modern irrigation systems. In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture needs to encourage the farmers, educate and guide them on the use of water and how to overcome the technical constraints faced while using the modern irrigation systems to improve the water-use efficiency.