Hydro-Environmental Sustainability of Crop Production under Socioeconomic Drought
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Methods and Data
2.1. Study Area
2.2. Water Footprint Accounting
2.2.1. AquaCrop Modeling
2.2.2. WF Components
2.3. Synergies between SDG 2 and SDG 6
2.4. Institutional Assessment
2.5. Data Sources
3. Results
3.1. Performance of the AquaCrop Model
3.1.1. Sensitivity Analysis
3.1.2. Calibration and Validation
3.2. Food Availability
3.3. Water Footprint Profile of Khuzestan Province
3.3.1. Consumptive Water Footprint
3.3.2. Degradative Grey Water Footprint
3.4. Sustainability Assessment of Water Use
3.5. Synergies/Tradeoffs between SDG Indicators
4. Discussion
4.1. Evolution of Irrigated Harvested Area
4.2. Agricultural Economic Growth
4.3. Trade Policies
4.4. Fertilizer Application
4.5. Water Productivity
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Crop Category | Selected Crops in the Category | Crop Type | Contribution in Total Harvested Area (%) | Contribution in Total Production (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cereals | Wheat, barley, rice, maize | Staple | 73.84 | 15.04 |
Vegetables/cucumber-family crops | Tomato, cucumber, onion, melon, watermelon | Staple | 6.54 | 16.33 |
Fodder crops | Sorghum and alfalfa | Cash | 3.93 | 13.67 |
Fiber crops | Potato | Staple | 0.30 | 0.40 |
Tropical/semi-tropical fruits | Date, fig, jujube | Cash | 0.16 | 0.06 |
Nuts | Walnut | Cash | 3.48 | 1.15 |
Other fruits | Apple, apricot, peach, grape, orange, grapefruit, sour orange, mandarin, lime, lemon, pomegranate | Cash | 0.01 | 0.01 |
Temporally oil crops | Canola, sesame | Cash | 0.56 | 0.03 |
Permanent oil crops | Olive | Cash | 0.01 | 0.01 |
Sugar crops | Sugar beet, sugar cane | Cash | 11.17 | 53.31 |
DV5 | Period | Relevant Policies and Targets | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Self-Sufficiency | Financial Support | International Trade | ||
First | 1989–1993 | Constructing 7 agro-industries in 84,000 ha for producing sugarcane Increasing harvested area by 200,000 ha Supporting the production of oil crops, cottonseed, sugar beet, sugarcane, and cereals Supporting national productions through supplying required inputs and machineries, developing manufacturing industries Preventing land fragmentation in order to improve agricultural management efficiency and crop yield Achieving self-sufficiency in producing strategic crops (i.e., cereals, oil crops, sugar crops, cottonseed) Reducing the available gap between production and consumption with an annual closure rate of 5.8% Achieving an annual growth of 6.1% in added-value supplied by the agricultural sector | Financing full costs of implementing sugarcane agro-industries | Developing agricultural products export |
Second | 1995–1999 | Continuing the construction of sugarcane production agro-industries Compensating farmers for 50% of production losses Setting agricultural sector as the main core of economic development in order to increase self-sufficiency in crop production Supporting economic growth of the agricultural sector through providing on-time and sufficient supply of required inputs and machineries, developing manufacturing industries, and economic support from increasing crop production | Financing 30% of required costs for implementing agricultural projects by the government Allocating 25% of all banking facilities to agricultural development projects Exempting agricultural sector from taxes Developing contract farming for strategic crops (i.e., announcing guaranteed price for the products) Exempting agricultural sector from annual increase of 20% in energy price Subsidizing agricultural inputs (i.e., fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, etc.) | Having an annual average increase of 8.4% in agricultural product export in order to increase the contribution of export-related added-value in national GDP |
Third | 2000–2004 | Addressing main obstacles for increasing self-sufficiency in crop production (i.e., supplying agricultural machineries, constructing relevant infrastructures for increasing harvested area, improving water productivity and applying saved water for expanding harvested area Compensating farmers for 50% of production losses | Allocating part of annual budget of the government to Agriculture Bank of Iran to support agricultural development projects Allocating 1% of Iran’s Central Bank deposit for agricultural development Allocating 25% of all banking facilities to agricultural development projects Foreign resources mobilization for agricultural projects which has socioeconomic justification Continuing the subsidization of agricultural inputs (i.e., fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, etc.) Contract farming for sugar beet and strategic crops (i.e., announcing guaranteed price for the products) | Expanding agricultural product export while prioritizing oil-crops, horticultural crops and olives |
Fourth | 2005–2009 | Achieving self-sufficiency in producing strategic/essential crops Compensating farmers for 50% of production losses Issuance of land ownership documents Developing horticultural lands on one million ha of steep lands Increasing agricultural added-value Compensating farmers for 50% of production losses | Allocating 1% of Iran’s Central Bank deposit for agricultural development Allocating 25% of all banking facilities to agricultural development projects Allocating 10% of annual foreign exchange reserves to Bank of Agriculture in order to support agricultural projects which are economically justified Subsidizing agricultural energy consumption (i.e., consumed energy in pumping stations, in agricultural machineries, etc.) | Tax exemption for agricultural product export Increasing none-oil exports (i.e., including agricultural commodities) from 23.1% in 2005 to 33.6% in 2009 |
Fifth | 2011–2015 | Achieving self-sufficiency in producing crops and livestock products, including cereals, oil crops, sugar crops, white/red meat, milk, and eggs Improving added-value by agriculture with an annual rate of 7% Compensating farmers for 50% of production losses Issuance of land ownership documents Encouraging private sector contribution to invest in agricultural sector Preventing land fragmentation | Tax exemption for inputs required in agriculture Land integration for improving crop yield and water productivity Allocating 35% of added-value by agriculture for developing this sector Developing rural-based agriculture through financially supporting small/average agricultural production units in rural area | Tax exemption for agricultural product export Supporting national products through setting proper tax for similar foreign products |
DV5 | Period | Relevant Policies and Targets | |
---|---|---|---|
Water | Environment | ||
First | 1989–1993 | Supplying resources for constructing four large dams in order to increase irrigated croplands Developing irrigation and drainage networks Subsidizing agricultural water consumption | No considerations for the environment |
Second | 1995–1999 | Prioritizing the construction of four large dams in order to develop irrigated agriculture Improving water productivity through expanding irrigation and drainage networks | Substituting chemical pesticides and fertilizers with biological ones |
Third | 2000–2004 | Developing volumetric delivery of water to the agriculture Developing local water markets Developing participatory water management Developing irrigation and drainage network Developing small and large dams in order to physically address water shortage for the agricultural sector | Sustainable development based on the ecological potential of the regions Enforcing the production units to follow environmental regulations and to reduce their loaded pollutions to the environment Removing sea sides from croplands |
Fourth | 2005–2009 | Expanding irrigation and drainage networks in 2 million ha of croplands | Substituting chemical fertilizers with composts, and biologically controlling pesticides in order to reduce diffuse pollutions loaded from agricultural sector to the environment Removing sea sides from croplands Implementing sustainable development regulations |
Fifth | 2011–2015 | Alleviating groundwater budget deficit by 25% Improving water productivity with an annual rate of 1% in order to use saved water for agricultural development Improving water productivity and water use efficiency Developing volumetric water delivery Improving irrigation efficiency by 40% | Determining allowable rate for fertilizer and pesticide applications in agriculture Developing irrigation and drainage networks Substituting 35% total chemical fertilizers by biological one until 2015 Developing integrated pest management Substituting fossil fuels with renewable energies |
Type of Data | Sources |
---|---|
Agricultural data
| [18] |
Water and irrigation management data | [30] |
Weather data
| [33] |
Reference evapotranspiration (ETo) | Estimated based on FAO-Penman-Monteith equation |
Soil data
| [34] |
Soil hydraulic parameter
| [35] |
Required parameters for estimating grey WF
| [16] |
Food balance information
| [16,36,37] |
Period | Parameter | Staple Crops | Cash Crops | All Croos |
---|---|---|---|---|
Calibration | nRMSE (%) | (0.35)–(11.7) | (0.73)–(7.93) | (0.36)–(8.96) |
nMBE | (−0.61)–(3.45) | (−1.75)–(1.88) | (−0.83)–(1.97) | |
NS-EF | (0.87)–(1) | (0.51)–(1) | (0.73)–(1) | |
Validation | nRMSE | (0.33)–(10.8) | (0.76)–(9.9) | (0.37)–(9.1) |
nMBE | (−0.64)–(5.51) | (−1.82)–(2.96) | (−1.25)–(2.23) | |
NS-EF | (0.75)–(0.99) | (0.52)–(0.99) | (0.68)–(0.98) |
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Salari, S.; Karandish, F.; Haghighat jou, P.; Aldaya, M.M. Hydro-Environmental Sustainability of Crop Production under Socioeconomic Drought. Water 2023, 15, 288. https://doi.org/10.3390/w15020288
Salari S, Karandish F, Haghighat jou P, Aldaya MM. Hydro-Environmental Sustainability of Crop Production under Socioeconomic Drought. Water. 2023; 15(2):288. https://doi.org/10.3390/w15020288
Chicago/Turabian StyleSalari, Samira, Fatemeh Karandish, Parviz Haghighat jou, and Maite M. Aldaya. 2023. "Hydro-Environmental Sustainability of Crop Production under Socioeconomic Drought" Water 15, no. 2: 288. https://doi.org/10.3390/w15020288
APA StyleSalari, S., Karandish, F., Haghighat jou, P., & Aldaya, M. M. (2023). Hydro-Environmental Sustainability of Crop Production under Socioeconomic Drought. Water, 15(2), 288. https://doi.org/10.3390/w15020288