Changing rice cropping patterns among farmers as a preventive policy to protect water resources

Due to population growth, agricultural expansion, and climate change, access to water as a basic and fundamental source has been compromised. Many solutions have been proposed and implemented to manage this crisis worldwide, focusing on reducing the demand for water resources, and consequently, protecting and conserving current water resources. Reducing cultivation crops with high water requirements, such as rice, is one of these initiatives. The purpose of this study was to investigate farmers' willingness to adopt this preventive policy, and to determine the factors that influence their willingness. To this end, we used the health belief model (HBM) as one of the main theories focused on preventive behavior. Our interest group comprised farmers in the Shushtar district of Khuzestan, southwest Iran. The study sample consisted of 250 farmers, who were selected through multistage stratified random sampling. The results of structure equation modeling showed that the HBM predicted 28% of variance in farmers' willingness to change their rice cultivation patterns. Structure equation modeling showed that perceived benefit predicted 63% of variance and cue to action predicted 20% of variance; however, other variables did not have significant effects on farmers' willingness. These findings may be helpful for establishing public policy and extension recommendations that promote changes in rice cultivation systems among farmers.