scholarly journals Developing a Decision Support System for Economic Analysis of Irrigation Applications in Temperate Zones

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 2044
Author(s):  
Kalim Hanna ◽  
Manashi Paul ◽  
Masoud Negahban-Azar ◽  
Adel Shirmohammadi

Climate variability and farmers’ desire to improve the crop yield have resulted in an increase in irrigated agriculture in the mid-Atlantic region. However, the huge initial capital cost associated with the installation and operation of irrigation systems is generally prohibitive, with most farmers finding difficulty in justifying the expenditure, and uncertainty of the overall return on their investment. The objective of this study was to develop a decision tool for farmers in temperate regions to evaluate the cost-benefit of irrigation installations. The developed irrigation economic model involved the development of an economic component that balances the expected economic return, based on anticipated crop yield increases due to supplemental irrigation, versus the water, maintenance, and capital costs associated with the irrigation system. Model development included the input of relevant data and required local calibration. Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) output files were used as the basis for data input into the irrigation economic model. An irrigation-scheduling component was incorporated into the model to prescribe irrigation volumes for each agricultural field defined within the area of interest. The economic component of the model identifies and prioritizes those fields in which supplemental irrigation will result in the greatest economic return in terms of increased agricultural production and revenue. The study is conducted on the Pocomoke river basin in the Coastal Plain of Maryland’s eastern shore. Results showed that irrigation system selection was mainly influenced by cost of water and irrigation installation costs, and to a lesser extent by physical characteristics of the terrain and the associated properties.

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 785 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Fernández García ◽  
Sergio Lecina ◽  
M. Carmen Ruiz-Sánchez ◽  
Juan Vera ◽  
Wenceslao Conejero ◽  
...  

A growing international human population and rising living standards are increasing the demand for agricultural products. Under higher pressure over natural resources, environmental concerns are increasing as well, challenging current water use decision-making processes in irrigated agriculture. Higher agricultural productivity means water should be applied more efficiently, which requires instant information on weather, soil, and plant conditions throughout the growing season. An information-based irrigation scheduling application tightened to the spatiotemporal variability of the fields is critical for enhancing the current irrigation system and making better irrigation scheduling decisions. The aim of this study is to review current irrigation scheduling methodologies based on two case studies (woody and field crops) located in semi-arid areas of Southeast Spain. We realize that optimal irrigation programming requires consistent investment in equipment, expenditure on operation and maintenance, and qualified technical and maintenance services. These technological approaches will be worthwhile in farms with low water availability, high profitability, and significant technical-economic capacity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arturo Reyes González ◽  
David Guadalupe Reta Sánchez ◽  
Juan Isidro Sánchez Duarte ◽  
Esmeralda Ochoa Martínez ◽  
Karla Rodríguez Hernández ◽  
...  

Irrigated agriculture requires better estimates of crop water demand. The aim of this study was to estimate the evapotranspiration (ETc) in forage corn through vegetation indices obtained in situ and estimated with remote sensing in the Comarca Lagunera, Mexico. The research was carried out in 2011 and 2012 in four 900 m2 plots irrigated with a subsurface drip irrigation system. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and crop coeff icient (Kc) during crop development were determined. The initial, maximum and f inal NDVI values were 0.13, 0.79 and 0.63 for both methods and in both cycles. The maximum Kc values were obtained 54 and 48 days after sowing (DDS) with GreenSeeker, and at 61 and 59 DDS with satellite images in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The results showed a good relationship between ETc estimated in situ and ETc estimated with remote sensing (r = 0.98) for both years. Although the variation of ETc using both methods was 1.2 mm day‑1, early in the cycle and 7.4 mm day-1 to flowering start-milky grains. Water needs of forage corn were estimated with similar precision using remote sensing and in situ measurements. Therefore, both methods can be used to improve irrigation scheduling and preserve water resources in agriculture.


Author(s):  
Mireia Fontanet ◽  
Daniel Fernàndez-Garcia ◽  
Gema Rodrigo ◽  
Francesc Ferrer ◽  
Josep Maria Villar

AbstractIn the context of growing evidence of climate change and the fact that agriculture uses about 70% of all the water available for irrigation in semi-arid areas, there is an increasing probability of water scarcity scenarios. Water irrigation optimization is, therefore, one of the main goals of researchers and stakeholders involved in irrigated agriculture. Irrigation scheduling is often conducted based on simple water requirement calculations without accounting for the strong link between water movement in the root zone, soil–water–crop productivity and irrigation expenses. In this work, we present a combined simulation and optimization framework aimed at estimating irrigation parameters that maximize the crop net margin. The simulation component couples the movement of water in a variably saturated porous media driven by irrigation with crop water uptake and crop yields. The optimization component assures maximum gain with minimum cost of crop production during a growing season. An application of the method demonstrates that an optimal solution exists and substantially differs from traditional methods. In contrast to traditional methods, results show that the optimal irrigation scheduling solution prevents water logging and provides a more constant value of water content during the entire growing season within the root zone. As a result, in this case, the crop net margin cost exhibits a substantial increase with respect to the traditional method. The optimal irrigation scheduling solution is also shown to strongly depend on the particular soil hydraulic properties of the given field site.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos Roberto Benso ◽  
Gabriela Chiquito Gesualdo ◽  
Eduardo Mario Mendiondo ◽  
Lars Ribbe ◽  
Alexandra Nauditt

<p>In the last decades, we have witnessed increasing losses on crop yield due to an increase in magnitude and frequency of hydrological extremes such as droughts and floods. These hazards promote systematic and regressive impacts on the economy and human behavior. Risk transfer mechanisms are key to cope with the economic impacts of these events, therefore safeguarding income to farmers and building resilience to the overall sector. The index-based insurance establishes an index that can be monitored in real or near-real-time, which is associated with losses to a specific agent. While the manifestation of the causality hazard to exposure and exposure to damage and its mathematical representation in cash flow equations is a hard task, incorporating an objective and transparent index adds up a new challenge to this modeling framework. Moreover, past events that have been used as the main guide to evaluating expected losses given risk can no longer offer an accurate risk estimation due to environmental changes. This work aims to tackle the hydrologic extremes risk transfer modeling in irrigated agriculture to obtain optimized premium values and parameters of an insurance fund for irrigated agriculture in Southeastern Brazil. This study will be developed in the Piracicaba, Jundiaí, and Capivari river basin, also known as PCJ catchment in the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, Brazil. The region, with approximately 5 million inhabitants, is considered one of the most important in Brazil due to its economic development, which represents about 7% of the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The Hydrologic Risk Transfer Model of the Hydraulic and Sanitation department of the University of São Paulo (MTRH-SHS) will be used to obtain optimized premium values. The main index variable is streamflow fitted to extreme value theory distribution for low and high flows. To evaluate climate change and land-use change scenarios, Regional Climate Models (RCMs) and land use projections will be related to streamflow in a hierarchical Bayesian framework. Synthetic data will be then simulated according to scenarios previously defined in a Monte Carlo approach. The hazard-damage function will be obtained by total crop yield and revenue per municipality, then the relationship between the index and expected losses is determined in an empirical equation. Finally, a cash flow computation is run with synthetic data obtaining optimized premiums in a way to minimize fund storage values. We expect to provide further evidence of the feasibility of actuarially fair premium values for the agents in the sector considering global phenomena of climate change and land-use change. Results will support climate change adaptation plans and policy as well as contribute to methods for estimating risk in a changing environment.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 642
Author(s):  
Jacek RÓŻKOWSKI ◽  
Mariusz RZĘTAŁA

The functioning of Uzbekistan’s economy is closely linked to the water resources of its huge cross-border rivers: the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, as well as to the groundwater present within their basins. Both natural lakes and artificial reservoirs (e.g. the Aydar-Arnasay system of lakes, the Kayrakkum Reservoir, the Chardarya Reservoir) are present there, which retain significant amounts of water, and large canals with lengths of up to several hundred kilometres which involve complex hydraulic structures are used for irrigation purposes. All these are components of a water management system which needs optimisation; as much as 80% of agricultural land is irrigated, with 70% of the water being lost due to inefficient irrigation systems. The consequence of this allocation of river flows and the overuse of water in irrigation systems has been the disappearance of the Aral Sea (1960 year – 68,900 km2, 2017 year – 8,600 km2) and the inflow of water into the Sarygamysh Lake as well as the reduction of Uzbekistan’s groundwater resources by about 40%. The intensive development of irrigated agriculture is associated with changes in surface and groundwater quality caused, inter alia, by the increased use of chemicals in agriculture and the discharge of collector-drainage waters into river systems as well as their reuse. The extent of environmental degradation in some areas (especially in the Aral Sea region) is unique on a global scale. The origins of Uzbekistan’s other hydrological tourist attractions are related to attempts to ensure the availability of water for both human consumption and industrial use under conditions of water scarcity in the country’s arid and semi-arid climates. Not just the spectacular watercourses and water bodies present there (e.g. rivers, lakes, canals), but also small water retention facilities and minor infrastructure elements (e.g. wells, springs and retention basins, canals, ditches and flow control structures) are of potential tourist importance.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Monika Ghimire ◽  
Art Stoecker ◽  
Tracy A. Boyer ◽  
Hiren Bhavsar ◽  
Jeffrey Vitale

<p class="sar-body"><span lang="EN-US">This study incorporates spatially explicit geographic information system and simulation models to develop an optimal irrigation system. The purpose of the optimized irrigation system was to save depleted ground water supplies. ArcGIS was used to calculate the area of potential irrigable soils, and EPANET (a hydrological simulation program) was used to calculate energy costs. Crop yield response functions were used to estimate the yield of cotton to the amount of irrigation and the accumulation of soil salinity over a 50-year period. Four irrigation designs (A, B, C, and D) were analyzed with different irrigation schedules.</span></p><p class="sar-body"><span lang="EN-US">Design A allowed all producers to irrigate simultaneously at 600 gallons per minute (gpm) or 2,271 liters per minute (lpm) while designs B and C divided the irrigable areas into two parts. Design D divided the areas into four parts to allow producers to irrigate one part at a time at 800 gpm (3,028 lpm). Irrigation scheduling not only lessened the water use and cost, but also amplified the profitability of the irrigation system. In design A, if all producers adopted 600 gpm (2,271 lpm) pivots and operated simultaneously, the cost of the 360,000 gpm (1363,000 lpm) pipeline would be prohibitive. In contrast, designs B, C, and D increased net benefits and lowered the breakeven price of cotton. The 50-year net present value for designs A, B, C, and D was profitable over 75, 70, 70, and 65 cents of cotton price per pound (454 g), respectively. Thus, this study endorses irrigation scheduling as a tool for efficient irrigation development and management, and increases water conservation.</span></p>


Nativa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Soares Ferreira ◽  
Wilian Rodrigues Ribeiro ◽  
Morgana Scaramussa Gonçalves ◽  
Andre Alves Pinheiro ◽  
Ramon Amaro Sales ◽  
...  

A agricultura irrigada no Brasil cresceu mais de 40% nos últimos 20 anos, representando uma área de 4,4 milhões de ha, com a região Sudeste representando 47% deste total. O método de irrigação por pivô é o que mais cresce, com os estados de Minas Gerais, Goiás, Bahia e São Paulo concentrando cerca de 80% da área ocupada pela tecnologia. Neste cenário, a atualização das informações torna-se fundamentais pois criarão bases de conhecimento que irão ajudar estabelecer diretrizes para adoção e planejamento de políticas públicas que venham a contribuir para o uso estratégico dos recursos hídricos. Foi realizado fotointerpretação na escala de 1:1000, em imagens satélite da plataforma Google EarthTM Pro, para identificação do equipamento e obtenção de sua área de ocupação. Com os dados coletados realizou-se análises em função dos municípios, microrregiões e bacias hidrográficas. Atualmente, estima-se uma área irrigada de 134.741,11 hectares e 2.301 pivôs centrais. Os municípios de Rio Paranaíba (302), Perdizes (164), Santa Juliana (135), Uberaba (120) e Patos de Minas (111) destacam-se em maior número de equipamentos. A Microrregião de Araxá abrange a maior concentração de pivôs, 694, com 40.728,94 hectares irrigados. Na Bacia do Rio Paranaíba concentra-se 85,75% dos pivôs.Palavras-chave: sensoriamento remoto, sistema de irrigação, recursos hídricos. SCENARIO OF THE AREA IRRIGATED BY CENTRAL PIVOT IN THE TRIÂNGULOMINEIRO, IN THE STATE OF MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL ABSTRACT: Irrigated agriculture in Brazil has grown over 40% in the last 20 years, representing an area of 4.4 million ha, with the Southeast region representing 47% of this total. The pivot irrigation method is the fastest growing, with the states of Minas Gerais, Goiás, Bahia and São Paulo concentrating around 80% of the area occupied by technology. In this scenario, updating the information becomes fundamental because it will create knowledge bases that will help establish guidelines for the adoption and planning of public policies that will contribute to the strategic use of water resources. It was realized photointerpretation in scale of 1: 1000, in satellite images of the platform Google EarthTM Pro, for identification of the equipment and obtaining of its area of occupation. With the data collected, analyzes were performed according to the municipalities, microregions and river basins. Currently, an irrigated area of 134,741.11 hectares and 2,301 central pivots is estimated. The municipalities of Rio Paranaíba (302), Perdizes (164), Santa Juliana (135), Uberaba (120) and Patos de Minas (111) stand out in more equipment. The Araxá Microregion encompasses the highest concentration of pivots, 694, with 40,728.94 irrigated hectares. In the Paranaíba River Basin, 85.75% of the pivots are concentrated.Keywords: remote sensing, irrigation system, water resources.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Akinola Mayowa Ikudayisi

Water is an essential natural resource for human existence and survival on the earth. South Africa, a water stressed country, allocates a high percentage of its available consumptive water use to irrigation. Therefore, it is necessary that we optimize water use in order to enhance food security. This study presents the development of mathematical models for irrigation scheduling of crops, optimal irrigation water release and crop yields in Vaal Harts irrigation scheme (VIS) of South Africa. For efficient irrigation water management, an accurate estimation of reference evapotranspiration (ETₒ) should be carried out. However, due to non-availability of enough historical data for the study area, mathematical models were developed to estimate ETₒ. A 20-year monthly meteorological data was collected and analysed using two data–driven modeling techniques namely principal component analysis (PCA) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems (ANFIS). Furthermore, an artificial neural network (ANN) model was developed for real time prediction of future ETₒ for the study area. The real time irrigation scheduling of potatoes was developed using a crop growth simulation model called CROPWAT. It was used to determine the crop water productivity (CWP), which is a determinant of the relationship between water applied and crop yield. Finally, a new and novel evolutionary multi-objective optimization algorithm called combined Pareto multi-objective differential evolution (CPMDE) was applied to optimize irrigation water use and crop yield on the VIS farmland. The net irrigation benefit, land area and irrigation water use of maize, potatoes and groundnut were optimized. Results obtained show that ETₒ increases with temperature and windspeed. Other variables such as rainfall and relative humidity have less significance on the value of ETₒ. Also, ANN models with one hidden layer showed better predictive performance compared with other considered configurations. A 5-day time step irrigation schedule data and graphs showing the crop water requirements and irrigation water requirements was generated. This would enable farmers know when, where, and how much water to apply to a given farmland. Finally, the employed CPMDE optimization algorithm produced a set of non-dominated Pareto optimal solutions. The best solution suggests that maize, groundnut and potatoes should be planted on 403543.44 m2, 181542.00 m2 and 352876.05 m2areas of land respectively. This solution generates a total net benefit of ZAR 767,961.49, total planting area of 937961.49 m2 and irrigation water volume of 391,061.52 m3. Among the three crops optimized, maize has the greatest land area, followed by potatoes and groundnut. This shows that maize is more profitable than potatoes and groundnut with respect to crop yield and water use in the study area.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-203
Author(s):  
Arshad Ashraf ◽  
Ghani Akbar

Cryosphere-fed kuhl irrigation system forms a major lifeline for agriculture and livelihood development in the Himalayan region. The system is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts like glacier retreat, glacial lake outburst floods, snow avalanches and landslides especially in the upper Indus Basin (UIB). It is necessary to conduct reassessment of climate change impacts and find coping strategies for sustainable agriculture development in this mountainous region. In the present study, risks of glacier depletion , lakes outburst flood, snow avalanche and landslide hazards impacting cryosphere-fed kuhl irrigation system in 10 river basins of the UIB of Pakistan were analyzed using multi-hazard indexing approach. High risk of glacier depletion was observed in the Astore and Swat river basins likely because of the combined effect of reduced snow precipitation and rising warm temperatures in these basins. The risk of expansion in aggregate lake area was high in the Indus sub-basin, moderate in the five basins (i.e., Hunza, Shigar, Shyok, Shingo and Astore), while it was low in the four basins (i.e., Swat, Chitral, Gilgit and Jhelum). More than 2% areas of Hunza and Shigar basins in the Karakoram range exhibited high risk of snow avalanche and landslide (SAL) hazard, while moderate SAL hazard was found in >40% areas of Chitral, Gilgit, Hunza and Shigar river basins. An effective early warning mechanism and provision of adequate resources for preparedness are essential to cope with negative impacts of climate change on irrigated agriculture in this region in future.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alaba Boluwade ◽  
Asma Al-Mamani ◽  
Amna Alruheili ◽  
Ali Al-Maktoumi

&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;*Correspondence: [email protected]&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abstract: &lt;/strong&gt;The primary objective of this study was to quantify the impacts of climate change on groundwater recharge using the 3D numerical-based HydroGeoSphere (HGS) model in the Ubar/ Shisr Agricultural region in South of Oman. This region has multi-million US dollar irrigated agriculture project purposely developed for the food security of the country. Excessive abstraction of groundwater for irrigation use (using the center pivot irrigation system) has contributed to the &amp;#8220;drying-up&amp;#8221; of several groundwater wells located in this area. Therefore, there is an urgent need to characterize the long-term sustainability of this agricultural project under a changing climate. HGS model was calibrated on both steady and transient states using selected monitoring wells located within the study area (approximately 980-km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;). The coefficient of determination (R&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;) for the steady-state performance was 0.93 while the transient state performances correctly reproduced the seasonality for each monitoring well. A transient-based calibrated version of the HGS model, using 30-year historical observations (1980-2018) was termed &amp;#8220;Reference&amp;#8221; while model configurations were developed for the immediate climatic projection (period: 2020 &amp;#8211; 2039) based on two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP): - RPC4.5 and RCP8.5 extracted from the World Bank Knowledge portal. These two configured models (scenarios) were evaluated for monthly transient simulations (2020-2039). From the total hydraulic head (THH) fluctuations standpoint, there were reductions when compared with &amp;#8220;Reference&amp;#8221; for all the scenarios with up to 20% THH reductions for groundwater well levels under persistent seasonal agricultural activities. This study is very important in quantifying the trade-offs and synergies involved between sustainable water management and food security initiatives, especially for an arid climate.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Keywords: groundwater recharge; climate change, hydrogeologic modeling; Sultanate of Oman&lt;/p&gt;


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