ISHS Acta Horticulturae 769: XXVII International Horticultural Congress - IHC2006: International Symposium on Asian Plants with Unique Horticultural Potential
SUSTAINABLE IRRIGATION FOR PISTACHIO FARMS IN IRAN: AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS |
| Author: | R. Sedaghat |
| Keywords: | pistachio, irrigation systems, productivity, sustainability, use efficiency, water extraction |
| Abstract:
Iran stood first both in production and export of pistachio in the world. According to the data from FAOSTAT information bank, Iran accounted for 52.89, 58.00, 64.79 and 65.84% of world production, cultivation area, export and export value respectively during the last decade. Although agricultural land availability is not a major constraint in Iran, but the availability of quality water has been basically reported as a chief hindrance. Moreover, due to the high resistance of pistachio to water stress, it has been extensively planted in dry zones of the country where no any other crop can be planted economically. This study was aimed to overview, the agricultural water availability, water salinity, irrigation sources and irrigation systems. The study was performed by interviewing 100 sample respondents which were selected through a multi stage random sampling technique in Kerman Province (Iran) in 2003-2004. The results revealed that 70% of farmers had agricultural water limitation, 82% were utilizing the non-quality water with salinity degree above 5 millimohs. For 94% of the sample farms, water were extracted from Deep-bore wells and lastly 97% of farms were managing under a traditional irrigation systems popularly called flood irrigation. All the cited bottlenecks, entailed farmers high water extraction costs, low water use efficiency and low pistachio productivity per unit of water utilized. Consequently, the profitability of pistachio orchards has declined recently, mainly owing to water limitation in the study area. To achieve a certain level of profitability that ensures a minimum net benefits, at least in short run, farmers have to put a high pressure by extracting more and more underground water. This is a serious alarming not only now but also in years to come, for both pistachio orchard owners and the government as well. According to the study results, it may be generalized that, the pistachio farming system is not stable, expecting huge problems for years ahead. To avoid the negative payoff in future, defining common property rights by enhancing NGOs and social groups and also changing tax collection system was recommended. | |
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