Survey of Farmers�� Perception and Behavior for Agricultural Water Saving- Applying to Irrigation Facility Monitors in Pohang and Yeongdeok Areas -

While agricultural water has been declared free in Korea to ensure access to these limited resource since the year 2000, farmers have however developed lackadaisical behavior towards water saving leading to its scarcity. To overcome this problem, a variety of experience-oriented education model was developed for farmers to promote the adoption of water conservation, and preventive measure against the drought impacts. In this study, farmers’ awareness and their attitudinal behavior of agricultural water savings were investigated. The monitoring of water supply structure and the repair facilities in Pohang and Yeongdeok areas were conducted. The field visits and behavioral surveys showed a high degree of over-use and illegal water withdrawals by the farmers due to poor water-saving and management practices. We found that most of the KRC employees strongly admitted the necessity of water-saving education. On the other hand, the farmers showed good interest in the implementation of water-saving awareness through education. Besides this, most farmers agreed to adopt water-saving practices in the fields. Farmers also acknowledged the recklessness of water use was due to the aging of waterways, poor water management, and illegal water consumption. The majority of the farmers responded against imposing the water-use tariffs. However, there was a low response to paying the water-use charge. Aging agricultural facilities and the lack of institutional penalties or incentives were the major obstacles in achieving efficient water-saving. Considering the current drought frequency, urgent water-saving education of farmers was deemed necessary to prepare the farming community against the water shortages. Based on the results of this study, we have to identify the irrigation practices of farmers and provide water-saving education to enforce more efficient use and management of agricultural water.