Estimation of withdrawal water for Fars Province agriculture based on water balance modelling

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Agronomy, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources

2 Department of Agronomy, College of Plant Production, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources

3 Agricultural Engineering Research Institute: Karaj, Iran

4 Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Plant Production, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

5 Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agricultural Management, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

Abstract

 
There has been a long-standing dispute between organizations associated with water resources (such as the Ministry of Energy and Agricultural Jihad) over the amount of withdrawal water for agriculture at the national and provincial levels. The purpose of this study was to estimate the withdrawal water for irrigated agriculture in Fars Province based on water balance modelling under the condition of “farmers". For this purpose, the SAWA system was used. The system estimates were obtained based on 10-year meteorological data (2011–2021) and 5-year crop area statistics (2017–2021). The largest crop area belonged to wheat (32%), fruits (24%), and barley (7%). Regarding net applied irrigation water volume, fruits (39%), wheat (14%), and rice (7%) had the greatest shares. The highest net applied irrigation water belonged to date, rice and pomegranate, respectively, with 23651, 14489, and 10160 m3.ha-1. Water balance analysis showed that the highest irrigation occurs in June (1024 million m3) and the lowest in December (70.8 million m3). The average volume of withdrawal water for agriculture was estimated at 6565 million m3 per year with a range of 6228–7076 million m3 per year, which was less than the estimate of the Ministry of Energy (i.e., 7991 million m3 per year). Part of this difference is due to the use of different statistical years.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Estimation of withdrawal water for Fars Province agriculture based on water balance modelling

EXTENDED ABSTRACT

Introduction

There has been a long-standing dispute between organizations associated with water resources (such as the Ministry of Energy and Agricultural Jihad) over the amount of withdrawal water for agriculture at the national and provincial levels. The existence of these differences has caused a lack of desired results in planning and decisions related to water resources, such as water scarcity adaptation programs. One of the most important reasons for this difference is the lack of clear methods for estimating reliable information on water resources with the ability to be easily updated.

Materials and Methods

The purpose of this study was to estimate the withdrawal water for irrigated agriculture in Fars Province based on water balance modelling under the Farmers’ conditions. For this purpose, the provincial water accounting system for irrigated agricultural lands in Fars Province (SAWA) was used. The central core of this system consists of a plant simulator model (SSM-icrop2), which was calibrated and set up for 35 important plants of the province in 17 agro-ecological zones. System estimates were based on 10-year meteorological data (2011–2021) and 5-year average cultivated area statistics (2017–2021).

Results

The results showed that the largest crop area belonged to wheat (32%), fruits (24%), and barley (7%). Regarding net applied irrigation water volume, fruits (39%), wheat (14%), and rice (7%) had the greatest shares. The highest net applied irrigation water belonged to date, rice and pomegranate, respectively, with 23651, 14489, and 10160 m3 ha-1. Water balance analysis showed that the highest irrigation occurs in June (1024 million m3) and the lowest in December (70.8 million m3). The average volume of withdrawal water for agriculture was estimated at 6565 million m3 per year, with a range of 6228–7076 million m3 per year.

Conclusion

The present study showed that the estimates of the system under the conditions of "farmers" were lower than the "potential", which should be taken into account in decisions and planning related to water resources. This is important because most models and software provide estimates for "potential" conditions, which are not accurate estimates. But the estimates of the current study are made for the conditions of farmers, and the results are valid and close to reality. The average volume of withdrawal water for agriculture was estimated at 6565 million m3 per year, with a range of 6228–7076 million m3 per year, which was less than the estimate of the Ministry of Energy (i.e., 7991 million m3 per year). This difference is related to the estimation method and data collection years. The estimation of withdrawal water for Fars Province agriculture using the SAWA system is very important in the validity of the estimates, from the point of view that it has reached the withdrawal water for province from the applied water irrigation in the fields, which is the innovative aspect of this study.

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Iranian Journal of Soil and Water Research
Volume 55, Issue 6
September 2024
Pages 963-978

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