Applicability of appropriate irrigation and agricultural techniques by farmers in drought conditions: The case of Ceyhan Basin

Drought, where and when it will occur is uncertain and whose impact is increasing day by day as a result of human activities, causes large amounts of loss in agriculture every year. The determination of the measures to be taken against drought, of which the area covered due to climate change and the number of people affected are increasing, is of a great importance both economically and ecologically. In this study, it is aimed to determine the thoughts and behaviors of the farmers in terms of reducing the effects of drought in agriculture and to calculate the willingness to pay of the farmers for the policies to be put forward regarding the measures to be taken against the drought. The research was conducted in Ceyhan Basin. Face-to-face surveys were conducted with 162 farmers in Afşin, Elbistan and Ekinözü districts where agricultural production is the most intense and rainfall is insufficent in the basin. In the study, in the drought analysis made by Standardized Precipitation Index method for Ceyhan Basin, it was determined that selected districts were at risk for drought. In the analysis of the data obtained through the survey; Factor Analysis, Cluster Analysis, Ordered Probit Model, Choice Experiment Method, Conditional Logit Model were used. After five different dimensions were obtained from the factor analysis, the farmers were divided into three separate segments and those in the segment of "pessimist group" were identified as the ones that should be focused on drought policies. According to the results of Ordered Probit Model, as age, education, the share of agriculture in total income and the amount of unirrigated land increase, degree of being affected by drought also increases. According to the model results used in the Choice Experiment, among the different policy alternatives to be applied in order to reduce the effects of drought, it is determined that farmers are willing to pay one-off 109.09 TL for the selection of drought-resistant plant varieties, farmers were willing to pay one-off 98.03 TL for pressurised irrigation methods. Although the practices related to soil protection were not significant in the model, willingness to pay was calculated as one-off 23.68 TL.