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Water
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Improving Agricultural Water Productivity in the Dry Areas
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Improving Agricultural Water Productivity in the Dry Areas

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water, Agriculture and Aquaculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 13181

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Vinay Nangia

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas(ICARDA), Rabat 10080, Morocco
Interests: crop production function analysis; irrigation and drainage performance diagnosis; evaluation of water conservation options; hydrological and crop modelling; GIS and remote sensing to research issues relating to agriculture water management; conservation agriculture; non-point-source pollution; water productivity; land degradation; sustainable crop production
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Anurag Saxena

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Principal Scientist & In-charge Forage Production Section, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (ICAR-NDRI), Karnal, India
Interests: cropping systems; arid land agricultural productivity; agriculture water management; crop diversification; irrigation; water productivity; sewage water utilisation; pressurised irrigation; protected agriculture; water conservation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

About 41% of the Earth’s land area is classified as dryland, wherein the farming system is characterized by approximately 300–500 mm of annual rainfall, much of which falls in winter and spring. Low rainfall, which is not only insufficient for the production of many crops, as well as irregular rainfall, constitutes a major challenge to profitable farming in dry areas. Nevertheless, local populations depend on these lands for producing food. Drylands are inhabited by more than two billion people worldwide. As water is the most limiting factor for agricultural production, the primary problem is to identify the most effective means of storing natural precipitation in the soil and how to retain this water until it is needed by the plants. In drylands, water received as rain or snow can easily be lost before it can be used by a crop. Rainfall amounts and distribution during the crop season are suboptimal. Normally, crop evapotranspiration exceeds the 300–500 mm seasonal rainfall and the irregular rainfall results in periods of drought, which stress crops and cause substantial yield losses.

This Special Issue aims to bring together state-of-the-art innovations in the field of agricultural water management for improving crop water productivity in the dry areas. Topics such as supplemental irrigation, rainwater harvesting, improved irrigation methods and systems, diversified cropping systems (rotations, intercropping, alley and relay cropping, etc.), bridging crop water demand–supply gaps, alternative water resources (treated wastewater, desalinized water, etc.) for crop production, and others will be considered for inclusion in this Issue. Additionally, research works on enabling an environment that allows for the successful implementation/scaling of such technical solutions, including intersectoral policy coherence, enhancing human capacity, institutional and legal frameworks, political will, stakeholder participation, and financing and investment mechanisms, among others, are invited to submit manuscripts.

Dr. Vinay Nangia
Dr. Anurag Saxena
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • water productivity
  • water use efficiency
  • evapotranspiration
  • agriculture water management
  • irrigation

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 4090 KiB  
Article
Toward Sustainable Water Resources Management in the Tunisian Citrus Sector: Impact of Pricing Policies on Water Resources Reallocation
by Najla Hajbi Ajroudi, Boubaker Dhehibi, Asma Lasram, Hatem Dellagi and Aymen Frija
Water 2022, 14(11), 1791; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14111791 - 02 Jun 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2197
Abstract
This study aims to analyse Tunisian farmers’ ability to pay (ATP) in a citrus area and propose a penalising price strategy based on the block-pricing process to decrease over-irrigation without affecting farmers’ incomes. The methodology is based on the residual imputation approach to [...] Read more.
This study aims to analyse Tunisian farmers’ ability to pay (ATP) in a citrus area and propose a penalising price strategy based on the block-pricing process to decrease over-irrigation without affecting farmers’ incomes. The methodology is based on the residual imputation approach to determine farmers’ ATP, a stochastic production frontier to estimate the technical efficiency to determine optimal water irrigation quantity and calculation of the price elasticity of demand for an effective penalty and the Gini index before and after penalisation to study equity improvement. A survey was carried out on a sample of 147 citrus farms in the Nabeul Governorate, Northeastern Tunisia. The technical efficiency analysis confirms that an optimal quantity of 5000 m3/ha guarantees the maximisation of yields and profits. Above this quantity, the amount of overused water could be penalised without significantly affecting farmers’ incomes. Results also reveal that water overconsumption represents 28% of available resources and the ATP varies according to technical efficiency. Therefore, the proposed penalty system could reduce water overconsumption by 44.56% without deteriorating agricultural welfare. To improve water management as well as farmers’ welfare, this study recommends an increase in the technical efficiency level of farms to optimise all production factors for any implemented pricing policy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improving Agricultural Water Productivity in the Dry Areas)
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16 pages, 2597 KiB  
Article
Driving Force Analysis of Agricultural Economic Growth Related to Water Utilization Effects Based on LMDI Method in Ningxia, Northwest China
by Jie Du, Zhaohui Yang, Guiyu Yang, Shuoyang Li and Ziteng Luo
Water 2021, 13(24), 3639; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13243639 - 17 Dec 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2425
Abstract
Agricultural economy is usually studied by total factor analysis, while it is uncertain what factors affect agricultural production in the perspective of water utilization. The aim of this study was to investigate driving forces of agricultural economy related to water utilization effects in [...] Read more.
Agricultural economy is usually studied by total factor analysis, while it is uncertain what factors affect agricultural production in the perspective of water utilization. The aim of this study was to investigate driving forces of agricultural economy related to water utilization effects in Ningxia during 2007 to 2017. The logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method was selected to decompose the driving forces of agricultural production value. Results showed that the agricultural production value increased significantly in 2007–2017 in all of Ningxia and in each city. In terms of the whole region, the effect of agriculture water efficiency played a leading and positive role in the increase of the agricultural production value. The effects of water stress, water utilization structure, and water resource endowment all showed a negative driving force, while population exerted a positive effect. For five cities, the effect of agriculture water efficiency and water utilization structure showed no spatial difference; whereas the other effects expressed different driving forces between cities in the northern plain area and southern hilly area due to varied natural conditions and agricultural activities. The results of this research suggested that the first and foremost strategy of agricultural development and water resource management in Ningxia should be to promote water-saving irrigation and optimize agricultural structure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improving Agricultural Water Productivity in the Dry Areas)
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20 pages, 2440 KiB  
Article
Socio-Economic Indexes for Water Use in Irrigation in a Representative Basin of the Tropical Semiarid Region
by José Antonio Frizzone, Sílvio Carlos Ribeiro Vieira Lima, Claudivan Feitosa Lacerda and Luciano Mateos
Water 2021, 13(19), 2643; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13192643 - 25 Sep 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2695
Abstract
Performance evaluation of irrigated agriculture is an important tool that assists in decision-making on water management in the river basin, particularly in tropical semiarid regions. This study was carried out using information from the Jaguaribe River basin, located in the Northeast region of [...] Read more.
Performance evaluation of irrigated agriculture is an important tool that assists in decision-making on water management in the river basin, particularly in tropical semiarid regions. This study was carried out using information from the Jaguaribe River basin, located in the Northeast region of Brazil, which has an important restriction in the availability of water resources and high competition for water use. From a set of indicators (production, water, economic, and social), the overall performance index of irrigated agriculture was estimated (ranging from zero to 1.0) for two scenarios: high water scarcity and low water scarcity. The performance index used was based on the mean value of these security criteria normalized with respect to the maximum value of the indicator for the crop obtained in the sub-basin. A low performance index of irrigated agriculture (less than 0.3) has always been associated with inadequacy of more than one security indicator. Crops with significant cultivated areas and, therefore, requiring a high volume of irrigation, such as rice, sugar cane, banana, and green coconut, require technical interventions related to the management of the soil–water–plant system aiming at improving yield with less water. Under conditions of water restrictions, crops with performance indexes higher than 0.3 should be prioritized. The study presented here for Jaguaribe River basin may support public policies related to irrigation and agronomic techniques necessary to improve the performance of agricultural under tropical dry lands. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improving Agricultural Water Productivity in the Dry Areas)
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27 pages, 4439 KiB  
Article
Coupling Water Resources and Agricultural Practices for Sorghum in a Semiarid Environment
by Ailton Alves de Carvalho, Abelardo A. de A. Montenegro, João L. M. P. de Lima, Thieres George Freire da Silva, Elvira Maria Regis Pedrosa and Thayná Alice Brito Almeida
Water 2021, 13(16), 2288; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13162288 - 21 Aug 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2857
Abstract
Water scarcity and changing rainfall distribution have caused uncertainties in relation to agricultural production in semiarid areas. In this context, water reuse for irrigation is a promising alternative, although requiring irrigation and agricultural management. Production of forage plants is strategic for semiarid areas [...] Read more.
Water scarcity and changing rainfall distribution have caused uncertainties in relation to agricultural production in semiarid areas. In this context, water reuse for irrigation is a promising alternative, although requiring irrigation and agricultural management. Production of forage plants is strategic for semiarid areas due to their high tolerance to stresses and use as animal fodder. The objective of this work was to evaluate the combined performance of treated wastewater irrigation and mulching on forage sorghum and on soil attributes in Northeast Brazil. Sorghum was cropped in November 2018, three months before the beginning of the hydrologic year, and cultivated over three cycles until April 2019. The experiment was designed with five irrigation depths (60%, 80%, 100%, 120%, and 140% of crop evapotranspiration), and with four soil cover conditions (0% (witness), soil covered with native vegetation, with coconut coir, and with macerated moringa seeds), adopting four replications. Irrigation with treated wastewater promoted linear increases in forage sorghum yield at irrigation depths of up to 140% of crop evapotranspiration. Mulch promoted a 24% increase in productivity in relation to the area where conservation was not practiced, being able to control salinity while also contributing to the higher incorporation of organic matter. Irrigation with treated wastewater had no negative agronomic impacts on soil, once natural rainfall events typical of the Brazilian semiarid region allowed effective salt leaching from shallow sandy soils. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improving Agricultural Water Productivity in the Dry Areas)
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15 pages, 3180 KiB  
Article
An Evaluation of a New Scheme for Determination of Irrigation Depths in the Egyptian Nile Delta
by Hassan M. Abd El Baki and Haruyuki Fujimaki
Water 2021, 13(16), 2181; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13162181 - 09 Aug 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1794
Abstract
Innovative irrigation techniques should be implemented to improve irrigation management in dryland countries. In this regard, a new scheme, that uses three sets of irrigation depth and numerically simulated cumulative transpiration, was evaluated in the Egyptian Nile delta in 2020. Presuming that water [...] Read more.
Innovative irrigation techniques should be implemented to improve irrigation management in dryland countries. In this regard, a new scheme, that uses three sets of irrigation depth and numerically simulated cumulative transpiration, was evaluated in the Egyptian Nile delta in 2020. Presuming that water is volumetrically priced, the proposed scheme can maximize net incomes at optimum irrigation depths considering quantitative weather forecasts. A field experiment was carried out with a randomized complete block design using a major crop, maize, to assess the feasibility of the proposed scheme in comparison to a sensor-based irrigation method under conditions of dry climate and clay loamy soil. The proposed scheme could increase the gross net income of farmers and conserve irrigation by 21% and 35%, respectively, compared to a sensor-based irrigation method, although the yield and its components were almost the same with no significant statistical differences. The model could accurately simulate soil water content in the topsoil layers with a RMSE of 0.02 cm3 cm−3. The proposed scheme could be a useful tool to spare the costs of expensive soil monitoring sensors while saving water and improving net income. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improving Agricultural Water Productivity in the Dry Areas)
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