Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Ph.D Student, Drainage and Irrigation Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Razi University, Kermanshah,Iran
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
3
Associated Professor, Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
Abstract
Nowadays, resources management in the watersheds is a vital task for the managers and planners due to the necessity of handling challenging issues existed between supply and demand sector. Water, energy and food are necessary for human comfort, poverty reduction, sustainable development and are inseparable part of human life. Iran is located in arid and semi-arid climate and the average rainfall is very low. So, it is very important to apply the proper management of water resource with considering the conditions of water shortage and crisis, to provide people’s food in the future. In this study, which was conducted two regions in the west of Iran (Miandarband & Oshtorinan plain), with purpose to evaluate and compare the difference farmer’s performances in the same crops with similar weather, it was investigated for the sustainable agriculture by Water, Food and Energy Nexus Index (WEFNI). WEFNI includes six indicators of water consumption, energy consumption, water efficiency, energy efficiency, water economic efficiency and energy economic efficiency. The final results obtained by the weighting and averaging of these indicators. The data has been collected by interviews with 43 farmers, field observations, related organizations and NETWAT software. Three crops tomato, potato, and cucumber were evaluated, which are prevailing cultivation in two regions. WEFNI of tomato, cucumber and potato was 0.87, 0.49 & 0.24 in Miandarband plain and 0.96, 0.48 & 0.33 in Oshtorinan plain Respectively. In both regions, based on WEFNI, tomato has the best conditions. So recommended to use WEFNI as a management tool to improve cropping pattern, which consider aspects of water and energy consumption and food security.
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