Questions about the weak realization of participatory irrigation management in Iran, a research based on content analysis

Participatory irrigation management as an approach to increase agricultural water productivity and reduce the cost of public management has been considered in Iran since the 1970s, along with global trends, and its implementation has been accompanied by many obstacles and problems. In this analytical-applied research with post-event approach, the weak of implementation of participatory irrigation management in Iran has been examined through the analysis of the content of research carried out in the country and relevant documents. To conduct this research, existing resources in the field of participatory irrigation management were identified from valid databases as far as possible and 38 sources were investigated and Atlas.ti7 software was used for data analysis. The analysis of 38 surveyed sources indicates that there are 12 domains of obstacles and problems in participatory irrigation management in Iran, which includes inadequate and anti-participation agricultural policies, neglecting of measures to provide conditions and planning, dominating narrow-minded cultures and establishing a climate of unreliability, lack of financial-credit support, a centralized and inflexible state structure, weakness in providing information and lack of information, preventive laws and regulations, lack of clarity and ambiguity in the nature and implementation of participatory irrigation management, inconsistency between users and responsible organizations, hard and soft ware and climate restrictions, incompatibility and inflexibility of applied management practices, unskilled and inefficient staff. In the end, some ways to move from the current situation and facilitate the implementation of participatory irrigation management have been suggested.