scholarly journals An Evaluation of Irrigation Water Use Efficiency in Crop Production Using a Data Envelopment Analysis Approach: A Case of Louisiana, USA

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 3193
Author(s):  
Tej K. Gautam ◽  
Krishna P. Paudel ◽  
Kurt M. Guidry
Keyword(s):  
Data Envelopment Analysis ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Irrigation Efficiency ◽  
Data Envelopment ◽  
Irrigation Water Use

The primary objective of this study is to estimate and evaluate the technical efficiency of irrigation water use in soybean (Glycine max L.) production in Louisiana, USA. We conducted a farm-level survey to assess information regarding irrigation cost, the volume of water application, and crop yield per acre during the crop year 2016. We use smoothed heterogeneous bootstrapping procedures in conventional data envelopment analysis (DEA) and supplement it with a nonradial measure of efficiency known as the Russell measure. The irrigation efficiency scores obtained from both an input- and an output-based DEA approach indicate that producers are over-applying irrigation water by approximately 37 percent. The results provide evidence that an improvement in water management practices can optimize irrigation efficiency, leading to higher profits for the farmers by lowering the other input prices in the production process. The findings should provide a benchmarking tool to formulate an appropriate irrigation policy that enhances water conservation in crop production in regions with similar environmental conditions and soil characteristics.

scholarly journals Irrigation Water Use Efficiency in Olive Trees in Kairouan, Tunisia

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-261
Author(s):  
Hajime Kamiyama ◽  
Mohamed Kefi ◽  
Kenichi Kashiwagi
Keyword(s):  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Data Envelopment ◽  
Irrigation Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Irrigation Water Use ◽  
Use Efficiency ◽  
Olive Trees ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Scale Of Operation

This study evaluated the technical efficiency and irrigation water use efficiency of olive farms in Tunisia, using Data Envelopment Analysis. In order to calibrate and validate the findings, data related to area, water use, water quality, cultivar, input, and yield were collected based on interviews from 45 irrigated olive farms in Kairouan Governorate. The results show that average input-oriented water use efficiency under the CRS and VRS specifications is 17.2% and 36.3%, respectively, indicating that the sampled olive farms could reduce the use of water by an average of 82.8% and 63.7% by improving the performance of irrigation systems. Also, it was found that there are large differences in irrigation water use efficiency between the CRS and VRS specifications. Consequently, this indicates that a number of olive farms can enhance overall efficiency by improving the scale of operation. In practical terms, this study provides significant insights for the olive growers in this study regarding the importance of removing scale inefficiency. Specifically, they need to consider the effects of water and soil quality on irrigated fields to improve the efficiency of irrigation water use.

scholarly journals Multi-Crop Production Decisions and Economic Irrigation Water Use Efficiency: The Effects of Water Costs, Pressure Irrigation Adoption, and Climatic Determinants

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yubing Fan ◽  
Raymond Massey ◽  
Seong Park
Keyword(s):  
Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
State Level ◽  
Water Application ◽  
Irrigation Systems ◽  
Irrigation Water Use Efficiency ◽  
Irrigation Water Use ◽  
Use Efficiency

In an irrigated multi-crop production system, farmers make decisions on the land allocated to each crop, and the subsequent irrigation water application, which determines the crop yield and irrigation water use efficiency. This study analyzes the effects of the multiple factors on farmers’ decision making and economic irrigation water use efficiency (EIWUE) using a national dataset from the USDA Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey. To better deal with the farm-level data embedded in each state of the U.S., multilevel models are employed, which permit the incorporation of state-level variables in addition to the farm-level factors. The results show higher costs of surface water are not effective in reducing water use, while groundwater costs show a positive association with water use on both corn and soybean farms. The adoption of pressure irrigation systems reduces the soybean water use and increases the soybean yield. A higher EIWUE can be achieved with the adoption of enhanced irrigation systems on both corn and soybean farms. A high temperature promotes more the efficient water use and higher yield, and a high precipitation is associated with lower water application and higher crop yield. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) suggest a moderate variability in water application and EIWUE is accounted by the state-level factors with ICC values greater than 0.10.

Irrigation efficiency and water withdrawal in US agriculture

Water Policy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 768-786 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haoying Wang
Keyword(s):  
Water Use ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Irrigation Efficiency ◽  
Water Withdrawal ◽  
Efficiency Improvement ◽  
Water Application ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Irrigation Water Use

Abstract To meet future food demand and sustainability requirements of society, the agriculture sector faces challenges in both the institutional dimension and the technological dimension. One of the main concerns regarding the current agricultural production pattern is the tremendous amount of water it requires to maintain and boost output. With a changing climate and increasing demand from civil uses, promoting both water allocation efficiency and water application efficiency becomes the focus of policy design. The unintended consequences of water policies, however, have led to extensive debates. This study addresses the key question of whether irrigation efficiency improvement leads to reduced per-area water use. The study assembles a national county-level panel data set on water withdrawal, irrigation technology, and farm operation and demographics. The empirical results show that a higher irrigation efficiency is associated with a lower per-area water application in US crop production. Two alternative efficiency measures are proposed. Depending on how the efficiency is measured, a one standard-deviation efficiency improvement (6–30%) in irrigation can reduce 6–11% of water withdrawal in US crop production. The water saving is about 0.06–0.12 mm/day given a county average irrigation water use of 1.07 mm/day.

scholarly journals Exploring the Effects of Extension Workshops on Household Water-use Behavior

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 668-676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Borisova ◽  
Pilar Useche
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Irrigation Water Use ◽  
Household Water ◽  
Effect Regression ◽  
Use Behavior ◽  
Residential Water

The effectiveness of 2-hour extension workshops focused on residential water conservation is examined. We used a sample of irrigation water-use data for 57 workshop participants and 43 nonparticipants, and applied a fixed effect regression analysis method. The results show that the workshops were effective in reducing attendees’ irrigation water use; however, the effect was short-lived. Furthermore, the effect of the workshop attendance depended on the household sample considered, and for a subsample of low-use workshop participants, water use tended to increase following the workshop.

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