Parisa Shahinrokhsar - Agricultural Engineering Research Department Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center of Gilan, AREEO Rasht, Iran
Ali Nazmi - Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education center of gilan, AREEO Rasht, iran

the predicted climate changes and the reduction of the Sefidrud River inflow reflect the considerable decline of available water quantity and quality for rice production in Guilan Province, Iran. The coming crisis would incur irreparable losses and damages to the single-commodity economy of Guilan Province. Optimum cropping pattern is an approach that can play an effective, decisive role in the management of water crisis. This study explores farmers’ mindsets about the impediments and challenges of alternative cropping for rice in Central District of Guilan Province. The statistical population was composed of ۳۰ expert farmers in Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh County in Guilan Province, Iran, selected by purposive sampling technique. The research tool was a structured questionnaire whose criteria were derived from a review of library and Internet resources and interviews with faculty members in academic and research centers and executive experts. The questionnaire’s reliability was estimated at ۰.۷۰ by Cronbach’s alpha test. The results showed that the most important factors inhibiting the alternative cropping in farmers’ opinions were the lack of the support by the government and farmers’ unions from the guaranteed purchase of the alternative crops, the lack of appropriate sale market, and the lack of successful pioneering farms. In contrast, the factors pertaining to the lack of interest to alternative cropping, unawareness with the growing and production of alternative crops, and inappropriate local climate for alternative crop were given the lowest rank mean and were not recognized as the impediments of cropping pattern development. Thus, it seems that if the loss of water resources quality and quantity persists, we will need some managerial actions like the development of optimum cropping pattern, the governmental support including guaranteed purchase, the development of pioneering farms, and attention to processing industries to hinder socioeconomic issues like immigration and land use change from agricultural to horticultural and/or to building construction.

cropping pattern, rice, sale market, water resources, alternative cropping