Agricultural Economics
Parvin Ghaderi nejad; somayeh shirzadi Laskookalayeh; Mostafa Mardani Najafabadi; Fateme Kashiri kolaei
Abstract
The existence of limitations such as the scarcity of resources such as water and energy has led to the use of methods to improve the productivity of production factors such as water and energy, and generally because the inputs used for production are limited and scarce, farmers and planners of the agricultural ...
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The existence of limitations such as the scarcity of resources such as water and energy has led to the use of methods to improve the productivity of production factors such as water and energy, and generally because the inputs used for production are limited and scarce, farmers and planners of the agricultural economic sector have always been looking for ways to achieve greater production by using less input, especially scarce inputs. Therefore, achieving effective and sustainable management of water and energy has been one of the global challenges in recent decades. Dehloran region, as an agricultural hub and the largest agricultural sector of Ilam province, is located in the south of this province. The decrease in rainfall in recent years and climate change have also affected the agricultural sector of the Dehloran region. Given that the Dehloran region is located in the path of permanent and seasonal rivers, and also due to its proximity to Khuzestan Province and the benefit of water from the Karkheh Dam, unfortunately, due to the lack of sufficient infrastructure, irrigation channels, and sufficient dams, these water resources are not used optimally. Therefore, it seems necessary to pay attention to the sustainability of agriculture in this region through the improvement and proper management of water and energy resources and the promotion of their productivity. Therefore, in the present study, an attempt was made to consider economic and environmental goals in the form of a multi-objective planning model with an emphasis on the management of water and energy resource consumption. Therefore, considering the necessity of the subject, the effect of determining the optimal cultivation pattern on water and energy productivity in the production of crops was investigated.
Materials and Methods
In the present study, a multi-objective nonlinear mathematical programming model has been used to simultaneously achieve multiple goals that are subject to a certain set of constraints. In the present study, considering the regional conditions and the importance of the issue, four goals were used, including maximizing gross profit, maximizing production, minimizing energy consumption, and minimizing water consumption. Considering the aforementioned goals, considering several different goals leads to a model in the form of a multi-objective programming. Considering the objective functions and regional conditions, constraints were defined, including water, labor, poison, fertilizer, machinery, land, and maximum and minimum production of agricultural products. Physical and economic productivity indices of water and energy were also used to calculate productivity. GAMS software was also used to run the model.
Results and Discussion
In Dehloran region, there are five important agricultural sectors including Anaran, Dasht-e Abbas, Musian, Zarinabad and Meimeh. If the multi-objective optimal model is implemented in the aforementioned sectors, an increase of 7.31, 0.74, 2.57, 6.62 and 29.78% of the cultivated area is observed, respectively. In the autumn group of crops, this increase is for irrigated wheat, rainfed and grain corn, and in summer crops, it includes profitable crops such as watermelon, melon, onion, potato, cucumber and cotton. The results of the research also showed that by considering the multi-objective optimal model, important variables such as total cultivated area, total production and gross profit show an increase of 3.85, 8.48 and 4.70 respectively. Also, the implementation of the optimal cultivation pattern improved the physical and economic productivity of water and energy by 22.09, 17.84, 10.16 and 6.33. This improvement was able to save 11.14 and 1.52 percent in water and energy consumption. In terms of energy consumption, chemical fertilizer input accounted for the highest share of total energy resources with a share of about 0.44 percent. Fuel and electricity input energy is in second priority with a share of about 0.33 percent. This is while the use of fuel and electricity input in the optimal model is about 88.5 percent less than the current one. Also, the lowest share of total energy consumption is related to the energy source of animal manure and labor. Implementing an optimal cultivation pattern based on multi-objective planning models in the Dehloran region by reducing water and energy consumption and increasing the productivity of these inputs while increasing total production and gross profit in the region can be an important step in advancing the goals of the region. Also, the results of implementing water inventory reduction scenarios also indicate that a 30% reduction in water inventory reduces total production, total gross profit, energy and water consumption by about 0.6, 1.5, 2 and 21%, respectively. However, water and energy productivity increases in the scenarios under study. Therefore, it can be said that by implementing the optimal cultivation pattern in the Dehloran region, while reducing water and energy consumption, it has also achieved an increase in productivity. Which can be an important step in advancing the goals of the region.
Conclusion
Considering the main objective of the research, which is to investigate the effect of determining the optimal cultivation pattern on water and energy productivity in crop production. After implementing the multi-objective mathematical programming model, the physical and economic productivity indicators of water and energy show an increase, and water and energy consumption is also saved. By implementing this model and proper management, appropriate savings can be achieved in the field of water consumption. Using multi-objective optimal models in the region can, in addition to increasing gross profit in the region, reduce water and energy consumption and increase physical and economic productivity in the region. Accordingly, it is suggested that the optimal cultivation pattern obtained in the region be used to increase farmer's profit, reduce water and energy consumption, and increase regional productivity. Similarly, holding extension classes to raise awareness in determining the optimal consumption of inputs and changing the cultivation pattern under the supervision of agricultural Jihad experts can be an effective step in advancing the appropriate goal of implementing an optimal cultivation pattern that matches the conditions of the desired region.
