mohammad ali asaadi; Sadegh Khalilian; seyed habibollah moosavi
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine the optimal cropping pattern in irrigation network of Qazvin plain with emphasis on deficit irrigation policy and reduction of fertilizers and chemical pesticides. For this purpose, the Positive Mathematical Programming approach (PMP) and Maximum Entropy Technique ...
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The aim of this study was to determine the optimal cropping pattern in irrigation network of Qazvin plain with emphasis on deficit irrigation policy and reduction of fertilizers and chemical pesticides. For this purpose, the Positive Mathematical Programming approach (PMP) and Maximum Entropy Technique (ME) were used. The results of the first option (5% deficit irrigation in wheat, barley, grain corn, fodder maize and Sugar beet at the ripening stage, and 5% deficit irrigation in the vegetative growth stage for alfalfa simultaneously with5% reduction in fertilizers and chemical pesticides) showed that sugar beet, alfalfa, grain corn and fodder maize were be desirable for cropping pattern due to their high economical profit in compared to wheat and barley. Also, applying this policy leads to an increase in gross margin (4.5%) and a reduction in water consumption (5.1%) in the agricultural lands of the region.As a result of the implementation of the second scenario, the cropping pattern goes towards products that have a higher economic margin due to their lower irrigation water consumption. This scenario leads to 3.6% increase in gross margin and 17.2% reduction in water consumption. Other results of the research showed that due to the application of these policies in PMP, the sustainability indicators of water resources, fertilizers and chemical pesticides are less than the current values for the region's present cropping pattern. The calculated environmental index revealed that high consumption of water, fertilizer, and other chemical inputs are a barrier to achieve sustainable agriculture.
mehdi elahi; mohammad hasan vakilpoor; Hamed Najafi Alamdarlo
Abstract
Excessive withdrawal of groundwater resources in the agricultural sector has led to an increase in cultivated land area and agricultural production, however, it has led to dropping of groundwater levels and drainage of aquifers. Consequently, most of Iran's plains are now considered as forbidden plains ...
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Excessive withdrawal of groundwater resources in the agricultural sector has led to an increase in cultivated land area and agricultural production, however, it has led to dropping of groundwater levels and drainage of aquifers. Consequently, most of Iran's plains are now considered as forbidden plains for underground water extraction. Therefore, proper policies for management of groundwater resources are essential. For this purpose, the present study aimed to evaluate the effects of economic policies of the agricultural sector on management of ground water resources in Kabodarahang Plain, by using a Positive Mathematical Programming (PMP) and Maximum Entropy (ME). The data and information was collected by referring to the relevant organizations and completing 141 questionnaires with multi-stage cluster sampling by farmers in 2016. The results showed that application of various senarios such as price increases, groundwater allocation , and combination of quotation scenarios simultaneously with increasing prices (combined) at levels of 10%, 20%, and 30% cause reduction in cropped area, decreased net profit of farmers, and reduced water consumption. Also, the results showed that the groundwater price increases scenario was not much effective and only increased the farmers' expenses, but the allocation/quotation polices and the combined policy are recommended as effective policies. Another result revealed that the quotation scenario, compared to the other scenarios, has higher economic returns per cubic meter of water consumption, thus it has been introduced as the best scenario in this research. Finally, it is suggested that the cropping pattern be directed towards products such as wheat and potato that have more gross profit for the water consumed and thus have more economic returns.