Irrigation water conservation and market- based approaches: balancing agricultural and urban water demands in the face of climate change in Jordan’s Azraq RAED A L - TABINI , OCTAVIO A . RAMIREZ ,

Water Policy ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Octavio A. Ramírez ◽  
Frank A. Ward ◽  
Raed Al-Tabini ◽  
Richard Phillips

A significant worldwide challenge is to increase the food supply to accommodate a population growing to 9,000,000,000 in the face of climate change. Per capita water supply in Jordan is among the world's lowest. Despite this scarcity, three-quarters of Jordan's water use is consumed by irrigated agriculture, while producing low economic values from additional water used compared to urban uses. However, irrigated agriculture supports Jordan's food security, so its policymakers continue to examine measures to produce more crop per drop in irrigated agriculture, to permit scarce water to meet growing urban demands. This paper examines economically efficient measures to conserve water in irrigated agriculture to sustain growing urban water demands. Using a sample of one-third of the farms in Jordan's Mafraq Basin, an econometric model is formulated to identify factors influencing irrigation water use and economic productivity. Findings show that the price of water is the overarching factor influencing both. A low water price discourages water conservation even if other institutions promote it. A high price of water encourages conservation even in the presence of other discouraging factors. Results suggest that water-conserving policies in Jordan's irrigated agriculture can be more effectively implemented where water institutions and programs are designed to be compatible with the underlying economic scarcity of water. Results carry significant implications for the design and implementation of development programs affecting the use of water in the world's dry areas.


Agriculture ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Panagiotis Dalias ◽  
Anastasis Christou ◽  
Damianos Neocleous

The study aimed at investigating eventual deviations from typical recommendations of irrigation water application to crops in Cyprus given the undeniable changes in recent weather conditions. It focused on the seasonal or monthly changes in crop evapotranspiration (ETc) and net irrigation requirements (NIR) of a number of permanent and annual crops over two consecutive overlapping periods (1976–2000 and 1990–2014). While the differences in the seasonal ETc and NIR estimates were not statistically significant between the studied periods, differences were identified via a month-by-month comparison. In March, the water demands of crops appeared to be significantly greater during the recent past in relation to 1976–2000, while for NIR, March showed statistically significant increases and September showed significant decreases. Consequently, the adjustment of irrigation schedules to climate change by farmers should not rely on annual trends as an eventual mismatch of monthly crop water needs with irrigation water supply might affect the critical growth stages of crops with a disproportionately greater negative impact on yields and quality. The clear increase in irrigation needs in March coincides with the most sensitive growth stage of irrigated potato crops in Cyprus. Therefore, the results may serve as a useful tool for current and future adaptation measures.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 1715
Author(s):  
Soha M. Mostafa ◽  
Osama Wahed ◽  
Walaa Y. El-Nashar ◽  
Samia M. El-Marsafawy ◽  
Martina Zeleňáková ◽  
...  

This paper presents a comprehensive study to assess the impact of climate change on Egypt’s water resources, focusing on irrigation water for agricultural crops, considering that the agriculture sector is the largest consumer of water in Egypt. The study aims to estimate future climate conditions using general circulation models (GCMs), to assess the impact of climate change and temperature increase on water demands for irrigation using the CROPWAT 8 model, and to determine the suitable irrigation type to adapt with future climate change. A case study was selected in the Middle part of Egypt. The study area includes Giza, Bani-Sweif, Al-Fayoum, and Minya governorates. The irrigation water requirements for major crops under current weather conditions and future climatic changes were estimated. Under the conditions of the four selected models CCSM-30, GFDLCM20, GFDLCM21, and GISS-EH, as well as the chosen scenario of A1BAIM, climate model (MAGICC/ScenGen) was applied in 2050 and 2100 to estimate the potential rise in the annual mean temperature in Middle Egypt. The results of the MAGICC/SceGen model indicated that the potential rise in temperature in the study area will be 2.12 °C in 2050, and 3.96 °C in 2100. The percentage of increase in irrigation water demands for winter crops under study ranged from 6.1 to 7.3% in 2050, and from 11.7 to 13.2% in 2100. At the same time, the increase in irrigation water demands for summer crops ranged from 4.9 to 5.8% in 2050, and from 9.3 to 10.9% in 2100. For Nili crops, the increase ranged from 5.0 to 5.1% in 2050, and from 9.6 to 9.9% in 2100. The increase in water demands due to climate change will affect the water security in Egypt, as the available water resources are limited, and population growth is another challenge which requires a proper management of water resources.


2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
AR Sanda ◽  
Jibrin Dibal

In the face of water scarcity and the several negative consequences, such as water wastage, flooding, water logging, soil losses and production losses, conserving the finite amount of fresh water is a must. The quality of irrigation water must therefore be ascertained. The chemical quality of three sources of irrigation water from canal and drainage water, namely drainage water, fresh irrigation water from canal, and drainage/irrigation water mixture, were analyzed from Kadawa irrigation Project for year 2013 and 2014 cropping seasons, with the view to evaluating the potential risks associated with their use in irrigation and hence their suitability or otherwise for irrigation purposes. The analysis revealed that the use of drainage water alone for irrigation may result in problems associated with salinity, while a blend of drainage/irrigation water in the ratio of 1:1 is a viable means of water conservation and a good means of crop production. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v3i3.11082 International Journal of Environment Vol.3(3) 2014: 235-240


2017 ◽  
Vol 155 (8) ◽  
pp. 1311-1323 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. CHRISTOU ◽  
P. DALIAS ◽  
D. NEOCLEOUS

SUMMARYDiminishing irrigation water availability and increased crop evapotranspiration (ET) have already been shown to pose threats to agricultural productivity. The aim of the current study was to estimate the values and trends of both ET and net irrigation requirements (NIR) of those crops consuming most water due to the size of their cultivated area (citrus and potatoes) in a water-scarce region with typical Mediterranean climate, such as Cyprus, analyse possible spatial and temporal variations of these parameters, and discuss implications of this analysis on agricultural water conservation. A linear regression analysis of ET and NIR values of potatoes and citrus during recent decades in their four main cultivated areas uncovered both increasing and decreasing trends for these parameters. Overall, however, the results did not show any change in irrigation water demands for these crops during recent years. In accordance with this outcome, average ET and NIR values of the majority of cultivated crops on the island showed no statistically significant differences between the periods 1976–2000 and 1990–2014. Conversely, this was not the case when data were analysed within each weather station across crops. It is suggested, therefore, that agricultural water resource management schemes should not be focused merely on a regional analysis of changes but that emphasis should be given to site-specific values and trends of ET and NIR estimations, ultimately serving the conservation of agricultural water.


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