scholarly journals Developing water, energy, and food sustainability performance indicators for agricultural systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Soheila Zarei ◽  
Omid Bozorg-Haddad ◽  
Vijay P. Singh ◽  
Hugo A. Loáiciga
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Pairwise Comparison ◽  
Sustainability Indicators ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Sustainability Performance ◽  
Expert Opinions ◽  
Basin Scale

AbstractWater use by the agricultural sector along with inefficient irrigation methods and climate change has led to the depletion and insecurity of water resources and consequent instability of the agricultural system. Defining benchmarks and comparing them is essential for sustainable system management performance. The sustainability performance of an agricultural system depends on various factors related to water, energy, and food. This study selects and ranks sustainability performance indicators (SPIs) of agricultural systems with the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Expert opinions on agricultural sustainability were obtained from Iran’s Regional Water Organization. The factors and variables affecting the management of water resources in agricultural systems in a basin area are evaluated with 17 SPIs (10 indicators of water resources sustainability, 3 energy sustainability indicators, and 4 food sustainability indicators) that measure the sustainability of agricultural systems. The AHP reduced the number of indicators to a small number of effective indicators. Results of pairwise comparison and the subsequent determination of the weight of each indicator show that the indicators of water consumption, groundwater level stability, vulnerability of water resources, and water stress have the largest weights (i.e., importance) for agricultural system sustainability at the basin scale. These selected indicators can be applied to agricultural water systems (AWSs).

scholarly journals Assessing Sustainability Performance at the Farm Level: Examples from Greek Agricultural Systems

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Tzouramani ◽  
Stamatis Mantziaris ◽  
Pavlos Karanikolas
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Sustainability Indicators ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Farm Level ◽  
Sustainability Performance ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Olive Trees ◽  
The Eu

In recent years, farmers and policymakers have faced ample challenges and have struggled to support the sustainability of the agricultural sector. Sustainable agriculture encompasses multiple concepts, and its performance produces extensive debate about data requirements, appropriate indicators, evaluation methods, and tools. Under the European Union (EU) financed project FLINT (Farm Level Indicators for New Topics in policy evaluation), detailed data have been collected at the farm level to provide broader coverage of sustainability indicators on a wide range of relevant topics to facilitate the assessment of sustainability performance. The approach has been applied in a pilot network of representative farms at the EU level, considering the heterogeneity of the EU farming sector to provide data infrastructure with up to date information for sustainability indicators. This study aims to assess sustainability performance at the farm level in Greece. Representative and dominant agricultural systems, such as permanent crops, olive trees, arable crops, and livestock (sheep) farms, comprise the Greek sample. It uses the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) methodology and attempts to gain insights into the sustainability performance of agricultural systems. The outcome of the sustainability assessment reveals knowledge and develops support for strategic farm choices in order to support both farmers and policymakers towards more sustainable development plans. The results indicate that three typical Mediterranean farming systems, like permanent crops, olive trees, and extensive livestock systems (sheep farms), are more sustainable in contrast to intensive and arable crop farms.

scholarly journals Assessing Sustainability Performance at the Farm Level: Examples from Greek Agricultural Systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Tzouramani ◽  
Stamatis Mantziaris ◽  
Pavlos Karanikolas
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Sustainability Indicators ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Farm Level ◽  
Sustainability Performance ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Olive Trees ◽  
The Eu

In recent years, farmers and policymakers have faced ample challenges and have struggled to support the sustainability of the agricultural sector. Sustainable agriculture encompasses multiple concepts, and its performance produces extensive debate about data requirements, appropriate indicators, evaluation methods, and tools. Under the European Union (EU) financed project FLINT (Farm Level Indicators for New Topics in policy evaluation), detailed data have been collected at the farm level to provide broader coverage of sustainability indicators on a wide range of relevant topics to facilitate the assessment of sustainability performance. The approach has been applied in a pilot network of representative farms at the EU level, considering the heterogeneity of the EU farming sector to provide data infrastructure with up to date information for sustainability indicators. This study aims to assess sustainability performance at the farm level in Greece. Representative and dominant agricultural systems, such as permanent crops, olive trees, arable crops, and livestock (sheep) farms, comprise the Greek sample. It uses the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) methodology and attempts to gain insights into the sustainability performance of agricultural systems. The outcome of the sustainability assessment reveals knowledge and develops support for strategic farm choices in order to support both farmers and policymakers towards more sustainable development plans. The results indicate that three typical Mediterranean farming systems, namely permanent crops, olive trees, and extensive livestock systems (sheep farms), are more sustainable in contrast to intensive and arable crop farms.

scholarly journals PROBLEMS OF OPTIMAL USE OF WATER RESOURCES FOR CROP IRRIGATION

2020 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
Akmal Obidovich Sultonov ◽  
◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Urgent Problem ◽  
Market Mechanisms ◽  
Irrigation Methods ◽  
The World ◽  
Integrated Methods ◽  
Effective Use

Today, the problem of water resources and their effective use is an urgent problem in many countries of the world. Due to the georegional features of the country, this problem largely affects the country's economy. The article discusses integrated methods for the optimal use of water resources, depending on performance indicators in the agricultural sector. Alternative irrigation methods in the process of optimal use of water resources and their impact on the agricultural economy are highlighted on the basis of mathematical (quantitative) analysis. The analyzes considered that economical irrigation methods not only save water resources and determine their effectiveness, but also that such irrigation methods should be applied in agriculture in accordance with the applicable characteristics of market mechanisms.

Combining hydroeconomic modelling and bottom-up approaches for climate change adaptation. Application to the Jucar river basin (Spain).

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Pulido-Velazquez ◽  
Patricia Marcos-Garcia ◽  
Antonio Lopez-Nicolas ◽  
Hector Macian-Sorribes ◽  
Adria Rubio-Martin
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Precipitation Decrease ◽  
Basin Scale

<p>In many regions of the world, such as in the Southern Mediterranean area, water management has been challenging for long; however, climate change could act as an amplification factor and trigger an unprecedented situation. Several approaches have been proposed for the design of adaptation strategies for water resources systems. Although top-down approaches have been traditionally preferred, several authors have pointed out their relative lack of success when it comes to decision making. On the other hand, participative bottom-up approaches have the advantage of involving the stakeholders from the early stages of the strategy development, which could be crucial for the strategy's success. In order to overcome the shortcomings of both approaches and take advantage of their strengths, we propose a mixed bottom-up/top-down approach to define adaptation strategies at basin scale.</p><p>First, climate change impact on local water availability (future local inflows) is characterized using a top-down approach. Next, local knowledge is used through a participatory process in a bottom-up approach to foresight future scenarios of evolution of the agricultural sector and define locally relevant adaptation strategies. Each measure is characterized in terms of cost and efficiency. Water demands are characterized using economic demand curves. Finally, we used a hydroeconomic model to integrate the information obtained through top-down and bottom-up approaches to evaluate the net benefit of the different adaptation strategies, and select a socially acceptable and economically efficient program of measures for the climate and socioeconomic scenarios.</p><p>This methodology has been applied to the Jucar basin, a highly regulated basin with a fragile equilibrium between available water resources and demands. Climate change is expected to accentuate the current problems. The results show the importance of considering the spatial variability of climate change impacts in the basin. Temperature increase and precipitation decrease would be higher in the basin headwaters than in the coastal area, which conditions future inflows. In relation to adaptation measures, the stakeholders preferred the change from gravity to drip irrigation, the use of non-conventional water resources (wastewater reuse and desalination) and measures related to water governance. Finally, the results obtained from the hydroeconomic model show that, for most of the considered climate scenarios, the selected measures allow a significant reduction of the economic losses in the system.</p><p><em>Acknowledgements: </em>This study has been supported by the ADAPTAMED project (RTI2018-101483-B-I00), funded by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain and with EU FEDER funds.</p>

scholarly journals Improvement of Farmers 'Competency for Agriculture Progress

2021 ◽  
Vol 04 (03) ◽  
Author(s):  
Komang Krisna Heryanda ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
National Development ◽  
School Education ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Low Education ◽  
A Priority

The success of the agricultural sector is determined by a strong agricultural system, the use of appropriate agricultural tools, and the competence of farmers in running agricultural systems and equipment effectively. The analysis found that 65.2 percent of farmers in Indonesia have primary school education, and 64.2 percent are over 45 years old. Low education, and the age of farmers who are dominated by parents are obstacles in advancing the agricultural sector in Indonesia. The contribution of the agricultural sector in national development is high, but the welfare of farmers is still low due to the lack of mastery of agricultural techniques, lack of ability to face climate change, and low mastery of marketing networks. Various efforts have been made to improve the competence of farmers, both government and private. Although various obstacles have yet to be resolved in improving farmer competence, the spirit of developing agriculture is still a priority.

scholarly journals A Review of SWAT Model Application in Africa

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1313
Author(s):  
George Akoko ◽  
Tu Hoang Le ◽  
Takashi Gomi ◽  
Tasuku Kato
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Hydrological Modeling ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Model Parameterization ◽  
Basin Scale

The soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) is a well-known hydrological modeling tool that has been applied in various hydrologic and environmental simulations. A total of 206 studies over a 15-year period (2005–2019) were identified from various peer-reviewed scientific journals listed on the SWAT website database, which is supported by the Centre for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD). These studies were categorized into five areas, namely applications considering: water resources and streamflow, erosion and sedimentation, land-use management and agricultural-related contexts, climate-change contexts, and model parameterization and dataset inputs. Water resources studies were applied to understand hydrological processes and responses in various river basins. Land-use and agriculture-related context studies mainly analyzed impacts and mitigation measures on the environment and provided insights into better environmental management. Erosion and sedimentation studies using the SWAT model were done to quantify sediment yield and evaluate soil conservation measures. Climate-change context studies mainly demonstrated streamflow sensitivity to weather changes. The model parameterization studies highlighted parameter selection in streamflow analysis, model improvements, and basin scale calibrations. Dataset inputs mainly compared simulations with rain-gauge and global rainfall data sources. The challenges and advantages of the SWAT model’s applications, which range from data availability and prediction uncertainties to the model’s capability in various applications, are highlighted. Discussions on considerations for future simulations such as data sharing, and potential for better future analysis are also highlighted. Increased efforts in local data availability and a multidimensional approach in future simulations are recommended.

scholarly journals Trends and Policy Correlates of Agricultural Production and Agricultural Production Sustainability Outcomes in Ghana and Nigeria

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Olawale Emmanuel Olayide ◽  
Isaac Kow Tetteh ◽  
Labode Popoola
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
International Development ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Development Agenda ◽  
Development Outcomes ◽  
Development Agendas

This paper analysed policy correlates of agricultural production and agricultural production sustainability outcomes in Ghana and Nigeria. It underscores the influence of political systems and international development agendas as correlates of agricultural production and agricultural production sustainability outcomes. This is to the extent of providing evidence policy on agricultural production and agricultural production sustainability outcomes. Ghana and Nigeria have comparable farming/agricultural system and policy environment. Data used for the analyses spanned five decades. Trends analysis and inferential statistics were employed. The results revealed that policy correlates can contribute to the current discourse in sustainable development agenda and to resolving the dilemma of agricultural policy implementation for sustainable agricultural development, especially in Ghana and Nigeria. The findings reinforce the need for appropriate policies in transforming the agricultural sector while ensuring sustainable development outcomes.

scholarly journals Perceived Project Sustainability Performance Indicators (PPSPI) for Value Planning

2015 ◽  
Vol 202 ◽  
pp. 89-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Hadi Nawawi ◽  
Faudzi Muhammad ◽  
Rohana Mahbub ◽  
Nazirah Zainul Abidin
Keyword(s):  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Sustainability Performance ◽  
Project Sustainability

scholarly journals Toward a new generation of agricultural system data, models, and knowledge products: State of agricultural systems science

2017 ◽  
Vol 155 ◽  
pp. 269-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Jones ◽  
John M. Antle ◽  
Bruno Basso ◽  
Kenneth J. Boote ◽  
Richard T. Conant ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Models ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
System Data ◽  
New Generation

Water-demand management: assessing impacts of climate and other changes on water usage in Central Arizona

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 288-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Netra B. Chhetri
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Demand Management ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Active Management ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Water Demand Management ◽  
Central Arizona

Planning for sustainable water management in the arid region of the southwestern USA is challenging mostly due to only partial understanding of factors converging around water supply and demand. Some of the factors that prompt concern about the adequacy of water resources are: (a) a growing urban population seeking a range of services, including the need to preserve and enhance aquatic ecosystems; (b) dwindling water storage due to multi-year drought conditions; and (c) the prospect of human-induced climate changes and its consequences in the hydrologic system of the region. This study analyzes the potential for water saving in the Phoenix Active Management Area (AMA) of Central Arizona, which includes the city of Phoenix, one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country. Based on an extensive literature review and secondary data analysis, this paper investigates multiple factors that place increasing strain on current water resources, and attempts to extend this analysis to 2025. Outdoor water use within the residential landscape is the most important factor that strains water resources in Phoenix AMA. Any gain in efficiency through agricultural water demand management would not only improve the availability of water for other uses in the AMA, but would facilitate adaptation of the agricultural system to climate and other ongoing changes.

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