Drip vs. surface irrigation: A comparison focussing on water saving and economic returns using multicriteria analysis applied to cotton

Abstract

Decision support systems Deficit irrigation Model MIRRIG Model SADREG Northeast Syria This study explores the use of drip and surface irrigation decision support systems to select among furrow, border and drip irrigation systems for cotton, considering water saving and economic priorities. Data refers to farm field observations in Northeast of Syria. Simulation of drip irrigation was performed with MIRRIG model for various alternatives: double and single row per lateral, emitter spacing of 0.5 and 0.7 m, six alternative pipe layouts and five self-compensating and non-compensating emitters. Furrow and border irrigation alternatives were designed and ranked with the SADREG model, considering lasered and nonlasered land levelling, field lengths of 50e200 m and various inflow discharges. A multicriteria analysis approach was used to analyse and compare the alternatives based upon economic and water saving criteria. Results for surface irrigation indicate a slight advantagefor long non-lasered graded furrows; non-lasered alternatives were selected due to economic considerations. For drip irrigation, the best ranking is for systems having lower costs, mainly with double rows per lateral and larger emitter spacing. Comparing surface and drip irrigation systems, despite low cost, drip alternatives may lead to 28e35% water saving relative to improved graded furrows, and increase water productivity from 0.43 kg m À3 to 0.61 kg m À3 , surface irrigation provides higher farm returns. Drip irrigation is selected only when high priority is assigned to water saving. Deficit irrigation does not change this pattern of results. Apparently, adopting drip irrigation requires appropriate economic incentives to farmers, changes in the structure of production costs and increased value of production. b i o s y s t e m s e n g i n e e r i n g 1 2 2 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 7 4 e9 0 http://dx.

Comparing Sprinkler and Surface Irrigation for Wheat Using Multi-Criteria Analysis: Water Saving vs. Economic Returns

“…The criteria adopted for ranking alternatives with MCA refer to the attributes presented in Table 5 that follow those previously used by Darouich et al [23,24]. The indicators used to define the criteria referring to water saving [46] include total irrigation water use (IWU, mm), beneficial water use fraction (BWUF, non-dimensional), non-beneficial water use (NBWU, mm) and water productivity (WP, kg·m −3 ).…”

“…In agreement with previous studies [48,49], WP is analyzed together with other performance indicators. Indicators relative to the economic criteria [24,49] consist of economic land productivity (ELP, €·ha −1 ), economic water productivity (EWP, €·m −3 ), irrigation investment costs per unit of land (IIC, €·ha −1 ), operation and maintenance costs per unit of land (OMC, €·ha −1 ) and economic water productivity ratio (EWPR, non-dimensional). ELP is the monetary yield value obtained per unit of land, and EWP is the monetary yield value per unit of water used.…”

“…EWPR is the ratio of total yield value to the total irrigation cost [49]. As for previous studies (e.g., [23,24,33]), the overlapping or redundancy of criteria was checked and definitely avoided. The utility functions that enable comparing attributes that have different units are also listed in Table 5.…”

“…The utilities U j relative to any criterion j were normalized into the [0-1] interval, with zero for the more adverse and 1 for the most advantageous result. Following previous studies [30,40] where composite programming and ELECTRE II (Elimination Et Choice Translating Reality) were used, considering the required easiness of discussing the results with the irrigation stakeholders, linear utility functions were adopted [23,24,31]:…”

Synthese Bibliographique Sur Les Technologies De Maitrise De L’eau Pour Les Cultures Dans Les Zones Humides Tropicales

“…Les principaux avantages de l'irrigation goutte-à-goutte sont entre autre la forte capacité d'appliquer de faible volume d'eau aux racines des plantes, de réduire les pertes par évaporation et d'améliorer l'uniformité de l'irrigation (Schwankl et al, 1996). L'utilisation des techniques d'irrigation goutte à goutte est sélectionnée lorsque la priorité est affectée à l'économie de l'eau (Darouich et al, 2014). Ces mêmes auteurs rapportent que l'adoption des techniques d'irrigation goutte à goutte nécessite des incitations économiques appropriées auprès des agriculteurs et un changement dans les coûts de production afin d'accroître la valeur de la production.…”