Maximizing Economic Water Productivity Index in Agriculture in Different Levels of Irrigation

Designing an optimal crop pattern and on-time water allocation of water resources along with deficit irrigation are among the optimal solutions to maximize the water economic efficiency index. In this paper, the simultaneous optimization of crop pattern and water allocation are discussed using the deficit irrigation method. The study area is located west of the Qazvin plain irrigation network. The six different levels of percentage reduction of irrigation rate (0, 0 to 10, 0 to 20, 0 to 30, 0 to 40, and 0 to 50%) in three climatic conditions consist of dry, normal, and wet years were compared. The best irrigation scenario was selected for each year, and the results were compared with the existing crop pattern of the same year. The new crop pattern included the main crops of the region and the addition of rapeseed. The objective was to reach the maximum net benefit per unit volume of water by considering the maximum extraction of monthly and annual surface and groundwater. The results showed that the best scenario in the dry year was maximum deficit irrigation up to 20%, in a normal year full irrigation, and a wet year maximum deficit irrigation up to 10%. The improvement of economic water productivity in a dry year was 52.2%, in a normal year 41.5%, and in a wet year is 19.6% compared to the existing crop pattern. The average percentage of annual irrigation supply increases from 64.3 to 91.7% in a dry year, from 70 to 100% in a normal year, and from 77.5 to 97.1% in a wet year. Also, the relative yield of all crops, especially wheat, alfalfa, and sugar beet significantly increases. Therefore, the gravitational search algorithm as an optimization model can be considered in selecting the suitable crop pattern and allocation of surface and groundwater resources concerning economic benefits in irrigation networks management.