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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 October 2021.
Special Issue Editor
Interests: precision irrigation; farming sustainability; agroeconomics; water resource management; irrigation efficiecy; precision agriculture
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The existence and persistence of climate change as well as the global impact of all its environmental ramifications makes evident the need to resort to ancestral practices in overcoming the combined impact of two climatic phenomena―the reduction in precipitation and the increase in temperature―on water balance. The climatic variability, (in)ability to irrigate, (un)availability of water, soil fertility, risk management in the face of extreme events, favorable conditions for organisms harmful to crops, and the alteration of phytosanitary systems are the main critical variables in mitigating the expected effects of climate change on agriculture. It is essential that the efficiency of water and energy use and management is improved in a transversal way, aiming, on the one hand, to increase the economic productivity of the exploration, and, on the other, to increase the availability of water for more irrigation, accompanied by a decrease in the negative environmental impacts associated with this practice.
This Special Issue calls for contributions on the following non-exclusive list of topics: irrigation strategies for improving water use efficiency, irrigation water management and modeling under climate change scenarios, irrigation systems and technologies for improving irrigation water and energy use efficiency, individual/collective irrigation management support platforms, and precision irrigation.
Prof. Dr. Gonçalo C. Rodrigues
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- irrigation water use efficiency
- irrigation scheduling and management
- sustainable irrigation practices
- climate change
- water scarcity
- precision irrigation
- IoT sensors
- irrigation networks
- energy use efficiency
- decision support systems
- economic impacts of irrigation efficiency
- irrigation system assessment
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
Title: Land levelling assessment and modelling for surface irrigation improvement
Authors: Miao Qingfeng, Shi Haibin, Li Ruiping, Tiago Levita, Diana Gonçalves, Susana Ferreira and José M. Gonçalves
Abstract: The new technologies of surface irrigation require the adoption of effective precise land levelling, to reach the high irrigation performance standards. Laser precise land levelling creates new opportunities to overcome these problems, with significant benefits on water saving, salinity control and crop productivity. The present study assess the land levelling operation based on field observations, computate by a simulation tool based on the plane method, earth volumes, operation time and the optimal slopes, and determine the operation cost. It presents irrigation case study analysis, Hetao, China, and Portuguese districts, aiming the development of land levelling tecnhical and economical guidelines.
Keywords: surface irrigation; irrigation water saving; precise land levelling; irrigation modernization; Hetao Irrigation District
Title: Evaluating the feasibility of water sharing as a drought risk management tool for irrigated agriculture
Abstract: Droughts can exert significant pressure on regional water resources resulting in abstraction restrictions for irrigated agriculture with consequences on crop productivity and revenue. Whilst water trading can support more efficient water allocation, a lack of flexibility, high transactional costs and delays in gaining approvals often restricts its wider uptake amongst users. Collaborative water sharing is an alternative approach to more formal water trading but has received much less regulatory and industry attention. This study assessed how the benefits of water sharing might reduce the water risks faced by agriculture with a focus on drought severity and the spatial scale at which water sharing agreements are established. The research focussed on an intensively farmed lowland rural catchment in Eastern England, a known hot-spot for irrigation intensity and recurrent abstraction pressures. The benefits of water sharing were modelled at three spatial scales, (i) individual farm (with no water sharing), (ii) sub-catchment water sharing amongst small farmer groups and (iii) catchment scale. The benefits of water sharing were evaluated based on the modelled reductions in the probability of an irrigation deficit occurring (reducing drought risks) and reduced licensed ‘headroom’ (spare capacity redeployed for more equitable allocation). The potential benefits of water sharing were found to increase with scale, but its impact was limited at high levels of drought severity due to regulatory drought management controls. The broader implications for water sharing to mitigate drought impacts, the barriers to its wider uptake and the environmental consequences are discussed.
Keywords: catchment; farm management; irrigation deficit; modelling; water resources
Title: The price of sustainability of a traditional irrigation system in northern Thailand
Authors: Arriya Mungsunti and Kevin A. Parton
Abstract: In recent years in northern Thailand, the traditional surface-water irrigation system known as muang fai has been challenged by the introduction of small-scale, groundwater pumping technology. This trend presents concerns about the sustainability of the system as the new technology uses more water, but produces lower quality agricultural outputs. In this paper, we provide evidence that farmers who use relatively modern irrigation technology (ground water pumping system) are willing to switch into a more traditional (hundreds of years old), more sustainable surface water irrigation system. In the Soprong region in North Thailand, we surveyed 570 Longan farmers, approximately half being muang fai members and half using pumped groundwater. We designed an experiment for the second group to check whether they were interested in becoming muang fai members in a scenario where they have access to the canal system. We found that almost half of them were willing to pay fees to become members, and that the negative relationship between membership fees and the willingness to join is robust after controlling all other relevant factors. We also note that the decision to switch is more likely for farmers who have a larger farm, and when they live in a village where muang fai membership is more common, meaning that social networking may influence a farmer’s decision about which type of the irrigation they choose to adopt. The key policy message of this work is that a relatively modest subsidy for membership of the muang fai could lead to increased membership of this traditional system, and hence a more sustainable system.