Farmers’ Attitude Toward the Traditional and Modern Irrigation

Abstract

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the most water deficit countries. The country is not suitable to support sustainable agriculture. Even though to achieve food security, the agriculture sector receives prime importance in the national developmental plans. Water remains an essential input for crop production, and hence it has to be used wisely and economically. Farmers in the Kingdom are still using old traditional methods to irrigate their farmlands. However, to conserve and maintain the precious water resources, it is important that farmers use modern irrigation methods. The present research primarily aims at studying the farmers’ attitude towards the use of different irrigation methods, in the region of Tabuk. Data were collected through the structured questionnaire and administered personally after checking its validity and reliability. Simple random sample technique was used to take a sample of 320 farmers which represents 7.9 % of the total population of farmers employing irrigations in order to meet the study objectives. The questionnaire phrased in simple language consists of sixteen questions to measure the attitudes of farmers towards irrigation methods. The correlation between some personal characteristics and socio-economic conditions of the farmers and their attitudes towards the use of both traditional and modern methods of irrigation were studied. Data were subjected to statistical analysis by using SPSS (2009). Findings of the study indicate that farmers have the positive attitudes towards the use of modern irrigation methods. Therefore, sufficient quantity of water can be saved by the farmers by replacing the old traditional irrigation methods with the modern ones. The study suggests the need for awareness campaigns among the farmers. Launching of agricultural extension education programs on efficient and water saving irrigation methods could be very suitable and viable option for conserving and maintaining water resources of the kingdom.