Evaluating Irrigation Efficiency with Performance Indicators: A Case Study of Citrus in the East of Spain
Improving water efficiency in farming systems is one of the major challenges of these decades. Water scarcity due to climate change, together with the increasing demand of food, is leading experts from around the world find appropriate indicators for water-use efficiency. In this paper we propose an...
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MDPI AG
2020-09-01
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| Series: | Agronomy |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/9/1359 |
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| author | Lorena Parra Marta Botella-Campos Herminia Puerto Bernat Roig-Merino Jaime Lloret |
| author_facet | Lorena Parra Marta Botella-Campos Herminia Puerto Bernat Roig-Merino Jaime Lloret |
| author_sort | Lorena Parra |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Improving water efficiency in farming systems is one of the major challenges of these decades. Water scarcity due to climate change, together with the increasing demand of food, is leading experts from around the world find appropriate indicators for water-use efficiency. In this paper we propose and test different indicators for service delivery performance, productive efficiency, and economic efficiency. Since the characteristics of the studied area and the citrus cropping system in the East of Spain are particular, we include in our analysis two other variables which are key to understanding the changes in the indicators: the obtained productivity, and the applied irrigation. The indicators and these two variables are tested with the information provided by farmers of citrus orchards belonging to an irrigation community from the East of Spain. The effect of different factors, such as cultivated varieties, type of farmer (professional or non-professional), or plantations’ size, are evaluated against the productivity and irrigation performance of the evaluated orchards. The effect of excess of irrigation on the indicators is also studied with the previous factors. Finally, an artificial intelligence system is used to predict productive efficiency of an orchard, based on the size and the water supply. Among the proposed indicators, the service delivery performance indicators came out to be the least useful and might provoke overirrigation due to the lack of accuracy of the data used for its calculation. The productive and economic efficiency indicators have been useful to illustrate the remarkable effect that excess of irrigation has on water efficiency, since a reduction of 66% of productive efficiency is found for some of the analysed varieties. On other cases, a reduction of 50% in economic efficiency is detected due to the excess of irrigation. Moreover, the excess of irrigation implied higher economic efficiency in only one of the evaluated varieties. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T16:25:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-79c7b7b3f65a4f14b764d47a3a397796 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4395 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T16:25:33Z |
| publishDate | 2020-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agronomy |
| spelling | doaj.art-79c7b7b3f65a4f14b764d47a3a3977962023-11-20T13:14:44ZengMDPI AGAgronomy2073-43952020-09-01109135910.3390/agronomy10091359Evaluating Irrigation Efficiency with Performance Indicators: A Case Study of Citrus in the East of SpainLorena Parra0Marta Botella-Campos1Herminia Puerto2Bernat Roig-Merino3Jaime Lloret4Instituto de Investigación para la Gestión Integrada de Zonas Costeras, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46730 Grao de Gandia, Valencia, SpainInstituto de Investigación para la Gestión Integrada de Zonas Costeras, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46730 Grao de Gandia, Valencia, SpainDepartment of Engineering, Miguel Hernandez University, 03312 Orihuela, Alicante, SpainInstituto de Investigación para la Gestión Integrada de Zonas Costeras, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46730 Grao de Gandia, Valencia, SpainInstituto de Investigación para la Gestión Integrada de Zonas Costeras, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46730 Grao de Gandia, Valencia, SpainImproving water efficiency in farming systems is one of the major challenges of these decades. Water scarcity due to climate change, together with the increasing demand of food, is leading experts from around the world find appropriate indicators for water-use efficiency. In this paper we propose and test different indicators for service delivery performance, productive efficiency, and economic efficiency. Since the characteristics of the studied area and the citrus cropping system in the East of Spain are particular, we include in our analysis two other variables which are key to understanding the changes in the indicators: the obtained productivity, and the applied irrigation. The indicators and these two variables are tested with the information provided by farmers of citrus orchards belonging to an irrigation community from the East of Spain. The effect of different factors, such as cultivated varieties, type of farmer (professional or non-professional), or plantations’ size, are evaluated against the productivity and irrigation performance of the evaluated orchards. The effect of excess of irrigation on the indicators is also studied with the previous factors. Finally, an artificial intelligence system is used to predict productive efficiency of an orchard, based on the size and the water supply. Among the proposed indicators, the service delivery performance indicators came out to be the least useful and might provoke overirrigation due to the lack of accuracy of the data used for its calculation. The productive and economic efficiency indicators have been useful to illustrate the remarkable effect that excess of irrigation has on water efficiency, since a reduction of 66% of productive efficiency is found for some of the analysed varieties. On other cases, a reduction of 50% in economic efficiency is detected due to the excess of irrigation. Moreover, the excess of irrigation implied higher economic efficiency in only one of the evaluated varieties.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/9/1359irrigation managementirrigation indicatorswater use efficiencyproductive efficiencyservice delivery performanceeconomic efficiency |
| spellingShingle | Lorena Parra Marta Botella-Campos Herminia Puerto Bernat Roig-Merino Jaime Lloret Evaluating Irrigation Efficiency with Performance Indicators: A Case Study of Citrus in the East of Spain Agronomy irrigation management irrigation indicators water use efficiency productive efficiency service delivery performance economic efficiency |
| title | Evaluating Irrigation Efficiency with Performance Indicators: A Case Study of Citrus in the East of Spain |
| title_full | Evaluating Irrigation Efficiency with Performance Indicators: A Case Study of Citrus in the East of Spain |
| title_fullStr | Evaluating Irrigation Efficiency with Performance Indicators: A Case Study of Citrus in the East of Spain |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluating Irrigation Efficiency with Performance Indicators: A Case Study of Citrus in the East of Spain |
| title_short | Evaluating Irrigation Efficiency with Performance Indicators: A Case Study of Citrus in the East of Spain |
| title_sort | evaluating irrigation efficiency with performance indicators a case study of citrus in the east of spain |
| topic | irrigation management irrigation indicators water use efficiency productive efficiency service delivery performance economic efficiency |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/9/1359 |
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