A New Way of Understanding Rebound Phenomenon in Agriculture Water Demand Using A Global Sensitivity Analysis Approach

Author(s):  
Mohammad Ghoreishi ◽  
Razi Sheikholeslami ◽  
Saman Razavi ◽  
Amin Elshorbagy

<p>Effective use of water resources has been identified as a means to improve resilience to drought, particularly in the agricultural sector. In recent decades, the idea of shifting to more efficient irrigation systems (e.g., sprinkler irrigation systems) has received increasing attention to reduce the amount of water loss by traditional irrigation systems (e.g., flood irrigation systems), requiring considerable capital investments. However, there are indications that such investments do not lead to a reduction in water use in the long-run, which may even increase paradoxically; a phenomenon known as the rebound phenomenon or Jevon’s paradox. One of the fundamental information gaps concerns an explicit evaluation of coevolutionary dynamics and the interactions among socio-economic factors in the rebound phenomenon in agriculture, which calls for the application of systems-based methodologies such as global sensitivity (GSA) analysis methods to look at time-dynamical aspects of the coevolutionary dynamics between various factors influencing rebound phenomenon. In this study, we use a previously calibrated and validated Agent-Based Agricultural Water Demand (ABAD) model applied to the Bow River Basin in Alberta, Canada - home  to extensive irrigated farmlands with a history of drought experience. We perform a time dependent variance-based GSA on the ABAD model to examine the direct impact of factors as well as their joint influence due to interactions on rebound phenomenon. The overall findings show that the economic factors are the most important elements, which has an upward trend in the simulation time, in the rebound phenomenon. This finding is supported by the local observation as the net income of irrigated land has an upward trend in this time period. In addition, although the individual effect of the factor representing the social interaction among farmers is less important compared to the irrigation expansion factor, its total-order effect (i.e., the total contribution of a single factor including interactions with all other factors) becomes more important indicating the significant interactions among model factors. This analysis provides a deeper understanding of the coevolutionary dynamics of the rebound phenomenon and paves the way for better management of water resources.</p>

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 427-433
Author(s):  
Laishram Kanta Singh ◽  
Madan K. Jha ◽  
V.M. Chowdary ◽  
Srikanta Sannigrahi

The agricultural sector is the primary consumer of water resources around the world, and the need for additional food production for growing population further exerts more pressure on water resources. In this study, crop water demand was assessed spatially and temporally for a case study area, Damodar Canal Command (DCC) using geospatial techniques. Crop evapotranspiration was estimated for all the crop seasons using reference evapotranspiration and Fraction of Vegetation cover (FV) that was used as a surrogate for crop coefficient. The reference evapotranspiration (ET ) was calculated using the FAO o Penman-Monteith method. FV was computed based on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) derived from MODIS satellite imagery and its value ranges from 0 to 1. The maximum and minimum reference evapotranspiration values were estimated as 8.44 and 1.88 mmday-1 in May and September, respectively during the normal year 2004. The average monthly crop water demand was maximum in May i.e. 8.08 mmday-1. Among all crop seasons, Boro season has the maximum crop water demand followed by Aus and Aman seasons with maximum ET as 496, 438 and 328 mm, respectively. Total annual crop c water demand for normal year, 2004 was estimated at 1237 mmyr-1 in the study area. Spatially and temporally distributed crop water demand estimates help the irrigation planners to devise the strategies for effective irrigation management.


Water Policy ◽  
2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amine Oulmane ◽  
Abdelhadi Kechar ◽  
Ahmed Benmihoub ◽  
M. Amine Benmehaia

Abstract The pressure on water resources that Algeria encounters is due to the scarcity and the water demand increase by different sectors of activity. This induces managers to reconsider the traditional supply management approach. The new water policies aim to adopt water demand management by improving the efficiency of its use in the agricultural sector, which consumes more than 59% of freshwater withdrawals. Economic, regulatory, and voluntary instruments have been adopted for better governance of water resources. This study aims to (i) define institutional arrangements on the exploitation of surface water in large irrigation schemes in Algeria and (ii) assess the effectiveness of the current water management instruments. Findings from farmers’ and water distribution agencies’ surveys suggest that objectives expected by the application of the different economic instruments are far from being achieved. Moreover, the absence of effective executive agencies for the implementation of regulations suggests that an improvement in the performance of public administration is necessary to achieve better governance of irrigation water in Algeria. At the local level, and despite a lack of farmers’ will to formally engage in a collective of farmers, they organize themselves around informal arrangements to overcome the challenges associated with water scarcity.


Atmosphere ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 135
Author(s):  
Demetrios E. Tsesmelis ◽  
Christos A. Karavitis ◽  
Kleomenis Kalogeropoulos ◽  
Efthimios Zervas ◽  
Constantina G. Vasilakou ◽  
...  

Natural resources degradation poses multiple challenges particularly to environmental and economic processes. It is usually difficult to identify the degree of degradation and the critical vulnerability values in the affected systems. Thus, among other tools, indices (composite indicators) may also describe these complex systems or phenomena. In this approach, the Water and Land Resources Degradation Index was applied to the fifth largest Mediterranean island, Crete, for the 1999–2014 period. The Water and Land Resources Degradation Index uses 11 water and soil resources related indicators: Aridity Index, Water Demand, Drought Impacts, Drought Resistance Water Resources Infrastructure, Land Use Intensity, Soil Parent Material, Plant Cover, Rainfall, Slope, and Soil Texture. The aim is to identify the sensitive areas to degradation due to anthropogenic interventions and natural processes, as well as their vulnerability status. The results for Crete Island indicate that prolonged water resources shortages due to low average precipitation values or high water demand (especially in the agricultural sector), may significantly affect Water and Land degradation processes. Hence, Water and Land Resources Degradation Index could serve as an extra tool to assist policymakers to improve their decisions to combat Natural Resources degradation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-170
Author(s):  
Sangkwon Lee ◽  
Kukryul Oh ◽  
Sangman Jeong ◽  
Tae Sung Cheong

Drought is caused by a long period of lack of rainfall and water resources, and has a great impact on the life and ecosystem of both humans and animals. It is particularly important for the agricultural sector, which is closely related to food security. Global warming, urbanization, and industrialization have led to a gradually increasing demand for agricultural water. In response, Korea has steadily developed its agricultural water sources to reduce rising damage to the agricultural sector due to climate change. The severity of drought is evaluated by using meteorological, agricultural, hydrological, and socioeconomic drought indexes. The agricultural drought index is evaluated using soil moisture and crop dryness, and the hydrological drought index is evaluated based on water shortage by comparing demands with water resources available for supply, such as rivers and groundwater, reservoirs and dams. However, these methods were found to over- or under-estimate the relatively low sensitivity of agricultural water as they assess the shortage of water for life, industry, and agriculture. Therefore, in this study, we developed the Agricultural Water Demand and Supply Drought Index (AWDSDI), which evaluates agricultural drought by analyzing water supply systems such as agricultural reservoirs, pumping stations and drainage, groundwater systems, and demands for agricultural water. In order to review the applicability of the developed drought index, AWDSDI was applied to 32 Eps and Myuns in three cities, including Jincheongun, Changnyeonggun, and Jangseonggun in the period June-August 2017, when drought damage was significant. It was found that AWDSDI reproduced the daily agricultural drought well in small administrative districts such as Eps and Myuns. In addition, in order to verify the developed drought index, the evaluation results of AWDSDI, the previously developed agricultural drought index and the hydrological drought index were compared together. The comparison found that the AWDSDI reproduced the drought period and drought depth in 32 Eps and Myuns in three cities better than previously developed drought indices.


1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 267-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Angelakis ◽  
E. Diamadopoulos

The basic aim of this paper is to present the existing conditions and problems of water resources management in Greece. Water demand has increased tremendously over the past 30 years. Despite adequate precipitation, water imbalance is often experienced, due to temporal and regional variations of the precipitation, the increased water demand during the summer months and the difficulty of transporting water due to the mountainous terrain. Integration of reclaimed wastewater originating from the wastewater treatment plant effluents into the water resources management is proposed. This plan exhibits the potential for reducing the pollution loads entering sea or inland waters, while at the same time providing water for irrigation.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Rachida Khaled ◽  
Lamine Hammas

The diffusion of the technological innovation can affect the agricultural sector in the three-sided (social, economic and environmental), a hand, it can contribute to solve problems of the agricultural sector: the effects of the climatic changes, the farming exodus and the migration and the problems of poverty and it can improve the agricultural productivity. But on the other hand, he can lead to new problems, such as depletion of energy resources caused by excessive use of energizing technologies, pollution of air and water and the destruction of soil by industrial waste. This paper aims to theoretically and empirically analyze the role of technological innovation in improving agricultural sustainability through the impact of mechanization on agricultural productivity, energy production and net income per capita for a panel of three Maghreb countries (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) during the period 1997-2012. By using simultaneous equations, the authors' finding that technological innovation cannot achieve the purpose of sustainable development in the agriculture sector in the Maghreb countries through the negative impact of mechanization and research and development on agricultural productivity.


2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (5) ◽  
pp. 1106-1115 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Mu ◽  
L. Fang ◽  
H. Wang ◽  
L. Chen ◽  
Y. Yang ◽  
...  

Worldwide, water scarcity threatens delivery of water to urban centers. Increasing water use efficiency (WUE) is often recommended to reduce water demand, especially in water-scarce areas. In this paper, agricultural water use efficiency (AWUE) is examined using the super-efficient data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach in Xi'an in Northwest China at a temporal and spatial level. The grey systems analysis technique was then adopted to identify the factors that influenced the efficiency differentials under the shortage of water resources. From the perspective of temporal scales, the AWUE increased year by year during 2004–2012, and the highest (2.05) was obtained in 2009. Additionally, the AWUE was the best in the urban area at the spatial scale. Moreover, the key influencing factors of the AWUE are the financial situations and agricultural water-saving technology. Finally, we identified several knowledge gaps and proposed water-saving strategies for increasing AWUE and reducing its water demand by: (1) improving irrigation practices (timing and amounts) based on compatible water-saving techniques; (2) maximizing regional WUE by managing water resources and allocation at regional scales as well as enhancing coordination among Chinese water governance institutes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Smaranika Mahapatra ◽  
Madan Kumar Jha

<p>Agricultural sector, being the largest consumer of water is greatly affected by climatic variability and disasters. Most parts of the world already face an enormous challenge in meeting competitive and conflicting multi-sector water demands. Climate change has further exacerbated this challenge by putting the sustainability of current cropping patterns and irrigation practices in question. For ensuring climate-resilient food production, it is crucial to examine the patterns of the projected climate and potential impacts on the agricultural sector at a basin scale. Hence, this study was carried out for an already water-scarce basin, Rushikulya River basin (RRB), located in the coastal region of eastern India. The bias-corrected NorESM2-MM general circulation model of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project-6 (CMIP6) was used in this study under four shared socioeconomic pathway (SSPs) scenarios, namely SSP126, SSP245, SSP370 and SSP585. The projected climatic parameters and crop water demands of the basin were analyzed assuming existing cropping pattern in the future. Analysis of the results reveals a significant and rapid increase in the temperature at a rate of 0.02-0.5ºC/year during 2026-2100 under all SSPs except SSP126, whereas the rainfall is expected to increase slightly during 2026-2100 as compared to the baseline period (1990-2016), especially in the far future (2076-2100) under all the SSPs. In contrast, monsoon rainfall is predicted to decrease under SSP245 and SSP370, while a slight increase in the monsoon rainfall is evident under SSP126 and SSP585. Although the rainy days will decrease slightly in the future 25-year time window, the number of heavy rainfall events is predicted to increase by two to three times. Also, retrospective analysis of rainfall and evapotranspiration suggested an existence of rainfall deficit (rainfall-evapotranspiration) in the basin throughout the year, except during July to September. The rainfall deficit in the basin during 2026-2100 is found to remain more or less same in the non-monsoon season, except for the month of October under SSP245, SSP370 and SSP585 scenarios where deficit increases by two folds. Rainfall is expected to be in surplus by 4 to 5 times higher under all SSPs except for SSP245. As to the evapotranspiration, an insignificant increasing trend is observed under future climatic condition with only 2 to 4% rise in the crop water demand compared to the baseline period. As the basin is already water stressed during most months in a year under baseline and future climatic conditions, continuing the current practice of monsoon paddy dominant cultivation in the basin will further aggravate this situation. The results of this study will be helpful in formulating sustainable irrigation plans and adaptation measures to address climate-induced water stress in the basin.</p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> Climate change; CMIP6; SSP; Monsoon rainfall; Temperature; Crop water demand.</p>


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mengmeng Hao ◽  
Jingying Fu ◽  
Dong Jiang ◽  
Xiaoxi Yan ◽  
Shuai Chen ◽  
...  

Bioenergy is expected to play a key role in achieving a future sustainable energy system. Sweet sorghum-based fuel ethanol, one of the most promising bioenergy sources in China, has been receiving considerable attention. However, the conflict between sweet sorghum development and traditional water use has not been fully considered. The article presents an integrated method for evaluating water stress from sweet sorghum-based fuel ethanol in China. The region for developing sweet sorghum was identified from the perspective of sustainable development of water resources. First, the spatial distribution of the water demand of sweet sorghum-based fuel ethanol was generated with a Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) model coupled with Geo-Information System (GIS). Subsequently, the surplus of water resources at the provincial scale and precipitation at the pixel scale were considered during the growth period of sweet sorghum, and the potential conflicts between the supply and demand of water resources were analyzed at regional scale monthly. Finally, the development level of sweet sorghum-based fuel ethanol was determined. The results showed that if the pressure of water consumption of sweet sorghum on regional water resources was taken into account, about 23% of the original marginal land was not suitable for development of sweet sorghum-based fuel ethanol, mainly distributed in Beijing, Hebei, Ningxia, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Tianjin. In future energy planning, the water demand of energy plants must be fully considered to ensure its sustainable development.


Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullah Momvandi ◽  
Maryam Omidi Najafabadi ◽  
Jamal Hosseini ◽  
Farhad Lashgarara

Climate change and water scarcity are the most important challenges of the agricultural sector, and pressurized irrigation systems (PISs) are one of the most significant ways to improve agricultural water productivity. The main purpose of this research was to identify the factors affecting the use of PISs by farmers. The statistical research population was a total of 2396 Iranian model farmers. The Cochran formula was used to determine the number of statistical samples. Accordingly, this comprised 331 people. The methodology of the study was mixed method research. The structural equation modeling technique, Mann–Whitney U, and Kruskal–Wallis tests were used to test the hypotheses. The results showed that the personal characteristics, tendency, attitude, self-efficacy, subjective norms, governmental support, environmental tensions, and technological features were the most important factors which influenced the farmers. It was found that all of these variables had a positive and significant relationship with the using of PISs by farmers, and they were able to predict 52% of the behavioral changes (R2) of the farmers. Among these variables, the attitude, with a path coefficient (β) of 0.48, had the highest impact on the using of PISs by the farmers.


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