This study aims to identify the position and barriers to farmers’ participation and their related organizations in the management of water resources in Iran. The research adopts a qualitative content analysis approach. The study population includes 13 official documents, laws, regulations, and national programs, approved by Iran’s policymaking institutions that directly address farmers’ participation in water resources management. These documents cover the period from 1989 to 2024. The theoretical framework of the study is the policy cycle model, which analyzes the policymaking process in four stages: problem identification, formulation, implementation, and evaluation. The findings reveal that although national laws and policies have repeatedly emphasized the necessity of farmers’ participation and the establishment of their organizations, such participation has been primarily defined as a means to achieve broader economic and technical objectives rather than as an independent and fundamental goal. The neglect of stakeholder participation principles in the problem identification stage, contradictions and inconsistencies among laws, centralization of authority, and limited delegation of power to farmers’ organizations during the formulation and implementation stages have created a disconnect between farmers and policymakers. Moreover, the absence of clear and structured programs, lack of stable financial resources, and weakness in independent monitoring and evaluation mechanisms have been among the major challenges to achieving effective participation. Overall, these factors have led to the failure and discontinuity of the policy cycle and to a top-down, one-dimensional policymaking process in water resource management, reducing farmers’ participation to a merely symbolic level.