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CR 88:101-114 (2022)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01700

Replacing rice with lower water consumption crops: green policy implications for Iran

Masoud Yazdanpanah1,2, Tahereh Zobeidi3,*, Stefan Sieber4,5, Katharina Löhr4,6, Seyedeh Bahar Homayoon1

1Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, Khuzestan, Mollasani 6341773637, Iran
2Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32607, USA
3International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria
4Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research, 15374 Müncheberg, Germany
5Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Life Sciences Thaer-Institute, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany
6Division Urban Plant Ecophysiology, Humboldt University of Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
*Corresponding author:

ABSTRACT: Replacing rice cultivation is a measure that mitigates water scarcity and climate change. This study used the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) to predict rice growers’ intentions to alter their current rice cropping system to other, less water-consumptive products. Using survey data collected from 220 randomly sampled rice growers in southwestern Iran, structural equation modeling showed that environmental concerns positively affected the subjective norm (β = 0.57), perceived behavioral control (β = 0.16), moral norm (β = 0.37), self-identity (β = 0.26), and habit (β = 0.39). Environmental concerns indirectly affect farmers’ intentions through self-identity and habit. Attitude and self-identity positively affected and habit negatively affected behavioral intentions. The results showed that the extended TPB has superior predictive ability over TPB in predicting grower intentions. Extended TPB predicted 35% of the farmers’ intentions, while TPB predicted 30%. Given the strong indirect impact of environmental concerns on the farmers’ intention to change cultivation patterns, political efforts through the media and training campaigns should be aimed at raising environmental concerns, risk perception and awareness, and clarifying the risks of water scarcity. Extension agents may increase farmers’ willingness to change cultivated crops by disseminating information to farmers about measures needed to prepare the land, costs of cultivating alternative crops, and benefits of changing cultivation patterns to improve farmers’ attitudes.


KEY WORDS: Water scarcity · Environmental concern · Habit · Change cropping system


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Cite this article as: Yazdanpanah M, Zobeidi T, Sieber S, Löhr K, Homayoon SB (2022) Replacing rice with lower water consumption crops: green policy implications for Iran. Clim Res 88:101-114. https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01700

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