Farmers’ perceptions as an useful tool to improve irrigation advisory service

Agricultural water scarcity, which is subject to the impacts of rainfall changes is affecting many regions of the world and it is leading to water competition between various users and uses. To deal with these issues, research concerning the application of Decision support systems (DSS) in agriculture has rapidly increased. In the current strategic agriculture framework, the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP 2023- 2027) encourages farmers to use DSS. In this context, Irrigation Advisory Services (IAS) can play a key role in supporting users to adopt new techniques for a more efficient water use and increased production. In order for DSS and IAS to be able to approach the territory through efficient solutions in sustainable irrigation management, it is necessary to undertake a detailed study on the preferences expressed by final users through MCDA (Multi- Criteria Decision Analysis) in particular Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). In this research the judgments of stakeholders have been collected, analysed, and compared to enable advanced management strategies in the IAS, to address heterogeneous decision-making processes in the complex context of irrigation strategies. Improving access to information, ensuring data coherence and communication of data detected by climate variability are some of the issues investigated through this work.