strategies to improve water security from the perspective of experts in agricultural farming units in Hamedan province

In recent years, water resources and the agricultural sector have been affected by climate change, which has caused water insecurity in agricultural farming units. Accordingly, any action to explore strategies to improve water security in agricultural farming units in Hamedan province is important. Therefore, the present study was conducted to solutions to improve water security from the experts' perspective in agricultural farming units of Hamedan province during the years 2022-2023. The statistical population of the study was 100 experts from the Hamedan Provincial Regional Water Joint Stock Company, agricultural Jihad organizations, and rural cooperatives in Hamedan Province. The main research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire, the validity of which was confirmed by a group of agricultural experts and faculty members of the departments of agricultural extension and education and agricultural management and development at Tarbiat Modares and Tehran Universities, and its reliability was confirmed through Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Data analysis was performed using PLS SMART and SPSS software. The results showed that the socio-managerial indicator (farmers' training on coping and adaptation strategies during drought periods) with a coefficient of 0.955 played the greatest role in explaining solutions to improve water security in agricultural farming units of Hamedan province, while the technical-infrastructural indicators (using forestry to protect water resources) and economic-financial indicators (gradual rationalization of water prices in the agricultural sector and risk management) ranked second and third with coefficients of 0.941 and 0.914, respectively.