Agricultural extension responsibility toward water conflict management: The Case of Doroodzan Dam Irrigation Network

"Agricultural water conflict" is a term describing disputes and contrasts among stakeholders over an access to water resources in agricultural sector. Education is increasingly seen as one means to reduce and overcome the effect of water conflict. In this regard, agricultural extension as a kind of informal education can be a key element to reduce conflicts among its clients. The purpose of this paper was to investigate agricultural extension responsibility toward water conflict management. A descriptive method using two surveys and a focus group was fulfilled as a research method. The study was conducted in Doroodzan dam irrigation network zone in Fars province. Multistage stratified random sampling was used to collect data from 294 farmers as a first population and all of regional water experts who worked in Doroodzan dam irrigation network formed second population of this study (75 experts). The research tool included two questionnaires for farmers and experts. Findings of this study revealed that agricultural extension as mediator variable can control and reduce water conflict by influence on context conditions which affect on it. Also, findings showed extension has no needed power to change in the structural area of water management in Iran. Before agricultural extension could have a significant effect on water conflict management, needs to revise its purposes, approaches, methods and specially tasks. At the end, according to the findings, a model was designed to determine the role and position of agricultural extension for intervention in water conflict management.