The adoption of water saving irrigation practices in the Region of West Macedonia

The use of irrigation water for agricultural production requires innovative and sustainable researchand an appropriate transfer of water saving technologies. The main aim of this paper is to explorethe irrigating behaviour of farmers examining factors affecting their decision to adopt novel watersaving practices. In order to achieve the above aim both summary statistics and multivariatemethodologies are employed. In particular, a two-step cluster analysis was used to explore thedifferent adoption levels of water saving practices and a categorical regression model was estimatedto explain this variation. Data were collected through a survey addressing 400 irrigators, carried outin 2008 in a typical Greek rural area. Results show that although respondents have already adoptedseveral water saving practices the current irrigated agriculture cannot be sustained in a sustainablemanner.