The Impact of New Inputs (drip irrigation technology) on the Production of Pomegranate and Factors Affecting Its Adoption (Case study: Khash City)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD student in Agricultural Economics, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran

2 MSc in Economic Sciences, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran

3 Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran

Abstract

Due to the limited water resources in arid and semi-arid areas, it is necessary to
utilize new high-efficiency irrigation systems to irrigate the horticultural crops. The
present study attempted to compare the productivity of pomegranate cultivation per
hectare after utilizing two drip irrigation and furrow irrigation methods and examined
some of the economic, environmental and managerial factors affecting the adoption of
the drip irrigation among pomegranate farmers in Khash city during 2015 crop year
using Logit models. Results of the model indicated that the
application of drip irrigation had both direct and indirect effects on increasing the
productivity of pomegranate cultivation. As the direct effect, the productivity of the
pomegranate cultivation increased by 32.28 percent per unit area without any change
in the consumption of inputs and as the indirect effect by changing the consumption of
inputs, the productivity of the pomegranate cultivation increased by 6.47 percent per
unit area. Generally, the use of drip irrigation in pomegranate orchards led to 12/28
percent change in productivity (kilograms per hectare) of the pomegranate cultivation.
On the other hand, the results of the logit model indicated that the farmer's age,
number of family labor force working on the farm and the accessibility to water
resources have a negative impact on the adoption to the drip irrigation technology.
Moreover, it was found that the farm size, level of education, farmer's job, land slope,
farmers income, type of land use, instructional and promoting classes, accessibility to
credit facilities have positive and significant effects on adoption to drip irrigation.

Keywords

Journal of Hydrosciences and Environment
Volume 1, Issue 1
March 2017
Pages 25-32

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