Farmers’ acceptance of a micro-irrigation system: A focus group study
From Firenze University Press Journal: Bio-based and Applied Economics (BAE)
Maria Sabbagh, Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sassari
Luciano Gutierrez, Department of Agricultural Sciences and Desertification Research Centre, University of Sassari
Climate change is having a huge detrimental impact on freshwater avail-ability on a worldwide scale, affecting water resources quantitively and quali-tatively (Field & Barros, 2014). Water scarcity is one of the most dangerous threats which has already resulted in catastrophic losses, notably in the arid regions. High temperatures, increased evaporation and fluctuations in precipitation are altering water availability and reducing crop yields (Arbuckle et al., 2013; Niles & Mueller, 2016). These factors affect the management of farms, especially in arid and semi-arid regions (Scoville-Simonds et al., 2020). Moreover, climate change is endangering the agricultur-al sector presenting risks for developed and developing countries (Field & Barros, 2014; Niles & Mueller, 2016). Lebanon is a small mountainous country on the Mediterranean Sea’s eastern coast, covering a total area of 10,452 Km². From a climatic point, Lebanon is char-acterised by a Mediterranean climate with a cold rainy winter and a semi-hot dry summer. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Lebanon expe-riences water shortages during the dry season which goes from July through October, with about 60 percent of the country’s territory undermined by desertification (MoA, 2003). This condition is expected to worsen in the future as a result of the effects of climate change. (Bank, 2014). According to the Lebanese Agricultural Research Insti-tute (LARI), water scarcity more than land resources is actually the constraining factor in the country’s expan-sion of agricultural production (LARI, 2019). In Lebanon, groundwater sources are increasingly stressed by climate change as well by the increased demand from agricul-ture, the inadequate utilisation of underground water, the population growth and the industrial development (UNDP & UNHCR, 2021). Further, recent results (Hal-wani & Halwani, 2022) showed that from 1930 to 2019, the average temperature in Lebanon increased between 1 to 3 ºC and a recent report from USAID (USAID, 2018) expects a 4–11% decrease in precipitation by 2100. Thus, various conditions threatening water balance make adap-tation to climate change more difficult in Lebanon. In this situation, the enhancement of irrigation water usage efficiency and the conservation of water resources are turning into strategic priorities. For this to happen, ade-quate institutional arrangements are required to comple-ment technical interventions in order to achieve effective water usage (Speelman & Veettil, 2013).According to the Lebanese Ministry of Economy (MoE) and the UNDP, the Bekaa valley of Lebanon, which represents 42% of Lebanon’s area, is a very fer-tile valley in which 60% of Lebanon’s agricultural pro-duction is concentrated including cereals, potatoes, veg-etables and grapevine (MoE & UNDP, 2011; MoE et al., 2015). The production of potatoes typically ranks first among the top 10 commodities produced in Lebanon each year, with a total production of 390,000 tonnes in 2017 (FAOSTAT, 2017). Two-thirds of Lebanon’s pota-to production comes from the Bekaa Plain, which is entirely irrigated (MoA & LARI, 2008). The Bekaa val-ley is divided into three main zones: North Bekaa, Cen-tral Bekaa and West Bekaa. The valley is confronting the consequences of drought and reduced water avail-ability that menace the yield and quality of irrigated crops (Karam & Karaa, 2000; MoE et al., 2015; Jaafar et al., 2016) . This is the case of potato crops which is one of the most sensitive crops to soil moisture stress and requires a systematic irrigation schedule (Ayas, 2013). Since potato crops are sensitive to water stress, water use efficiency such as water-saving technologies are becoming of high importance. Until now, in the Bekaa region, the high majority of potato farmers are still using the ordinary sprinkler irrigation (MoA & LARI, 2008). Micro-irrigation, particularly mini-sprinklers, could be a solution to the above-mentioned climate-change related problems (Houston et al., 2018). Mini-sprinklers are small sized static sprinklers with a flow varying between 150 and 300 L per hour and a pressure of 1.5 bars inducing a water cooling canopy (Deligios et al., 2019). Micro-irrigation can induce an even applica-tion of water resulting in an improved crop quality and yields, in water savings and which also leads to energy and fertilizer savings compared with other irrigation methods (Varma & Namara, 2006; Shah, 2011). Further, micro-irrigation systems allow for a high level of control of chemical applications and weed and disease reduction due to limited wetted area. Previous research executed in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, in Lebanon and beyond indicated that the use of micro-irrigation in potato cultivation could have promoting results in terms of water savings of up to 40% (Darwish et al., 2003; Darwish et al., 2006), and allow for energy savings associated with higher crop quality and yields (Karam & Karaa, 2000; Varma & Namara, 2006; Shah, 2011; Rouzaneh et al., 2021). In this context, it should also be noted that the improvement of the diffusion of innovations such as water saving techniques is a crucial strategy for promoting economic development (Lopolito et al., 2022).Given the lack of information available on the performances of innovative technologies, farmers may evaluate these new systems through their experience and knowledge. This study aims to analyse the indirect non observed factors such as farmers’ motivations, attitudes and socioeconomic factors which may influence the farmers’ perceptions and behaviours in their investment in and adoption of a new micro-irrigation system. By disentangling these factors, effective strat-egies, and support systems for promoting the use of micro-irrigation systems in the area could be designed. To this end, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model (Venkatesh et al., 2003) was adopted. The UTAUT model (Venkatesh et al., 2003) is a tool that was mainly used to analyse the accept-ance and diffusion of information systems and technol-ogy by evaluating the influencing factors. Nowadays, the UTAUT model is commonly used to study individual intention and behaviour to adopt any type of technol-ogy (Rippo & Cerroni, 2023). Previous studies utilised the UTAUT model to investigate factors affecting the adoption of pressurised irrigation technology among olive farmer (Nejadrezaei et al., 2018), the acceptance of e-agriculture (Eweoya et al., 2021), farmers’ use of communication technologies (Mahamood et al., 2016), the acceptance of water saving technologies (Sabbagh & Gutierrez, 2022) as well as farmers’ participation in the apple-Income Stabilisation Tool (IST) (Rippo & Cerroni, 2023).The UTAUT model integrates behavioural factors such as system ease of use, experience, and facilitating conditions , which give valuable insights into individu-als’ decisions to innovate. Understanding the impact of behavioural variables in innovation adoption could increase the efficacy and success of policies such as agricultural ones (Cerroni, 2020; Streletskaya et al., 2020). This is what makes UTAUT useful to analyse the adop-tion of other types of technologies other than information systems and technology.A qualitative study that utilised a focus group discussion (FGD) approach was employed. In this study, FGD could be an appropriate tool because it can allow for drawing upon the respondent’s knowledge, views, and experiences about the specific topic of introducing micro-irrigation systems. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to use the UTAUT model combined with a Focus Group Discussion approach to shed light on the impact and importance of socio-economic, psychological and behavioural factors in influencing the adoption and use of a micro-irrigation system. Several researchers found that these three factors work simultaneously to understand and obtain a more com-plete vision of the intention to adopt a new investment (Heller et al., 1988; Konana & Balasubramanian, 2005). To this end, the scope of this paper is to enlarge the literature on technology investment analysing the impacts of socio-economic, psychological and behavioural fac-tors that may affect the intention to adopt and invest in a micro-irrigation system by the potato farmers in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon. The remainder of this paper is organised as follows. Section two briefly analyses the UTAUT model. Section three explains the methodological approach employed in this study to explore the acceptance of a new micro-irrigation system. Section four presents the results of focus groups conducted with potato farmers in three main districts of the Bekaa valley. Section five discusses the main findings providing insights about policies that the government could implement to encourage potato farmers to adopt a micro-irrigation system. In section 6, the main conclusions are presented.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/bae-13464
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