agriculture irrigation Articles
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Water efficiency of agricultural production in China: regional comparison from 1999 to 2002
We apply stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) techniques to a provincial level data set to measure technical and water efficiency in China's agricultural production from 1999 to 2002. The determinants of the efficiencies are identified together with the physical determinant structure of the irrigation factor, which refers to the water use per irrigated land area. The study yields the following ...
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LCA of integrated orange production in the Comunidad Valenciana (Spain)
In order to perform an LCA of integrated orange production in the Comunidad Valenciana two representative areas were studied. The functional unit was 1 kg oranges at the farm gate. Eight scenarios were considered according to type of irrigation, the origin of water and the tillage practice. The production of agrochemicals, the production and use of energy in agriculture (for irrigation and ...
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Perceptions and practices of farmers towards the salinity problem: the case of Harran Plain, Turkey
The Harran region, located in the South-eastern part of Turkey, is facing an increasing salinity problem due to excessive and inefficient irrigation practices. In this paper, we survey 619 cotton producers in the region and analyse their perceptions and practices towards soil salinity. The survey results indicate that formal education and training are the central factors that determine the ...
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Food and water insecurity: re-assessing the value of rainfed agriculture
ABSTRACTRainfed agriculture has potential to produce needed cereals for the growing populations of West and Central Asia even though rainfed agriculture is perceived as risky. The value of rainfed agriculture to produce competitively should be re-assessed. This requires the concerted efforts of farmers, researchers, and policy makers to work on the technical factors that determine agricultural ...
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Irrigation water pricing policy for water demand and environmental management: a case study in the Weihe River basin
Irrigated agricultural production is the backbone of the Chinese agricultural sector, but the increasing demand for irrigation water, its inefficient utilization and overuse of chemical inputs, accompanied by the short supply of water resources have endangered the nation's agricultural and environmental sustainability. The Chinese government has proposed a water pricing policy with the ...
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Irrigation water governance in practice: the case of the Canale Emiliano Romagnolo district, Italy
Irrigation is an essential element of agricultural production whose absence would create great economic hardship in many regions of the global South. Yet irrigated agriculture uses 70% of global fresh water withdrawals, putting major pressure on global water resources. Whilst much research has focused on technological solutions to improve irrigation efficiency, irrigation water ...
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Tunisia: Reform of irrigation policy and water conservation
An arid country with limited water resources, Tunisia depends heavily on irrigated agriculture. The sector contributes 30-40% of the value of agricultural production, and is highly important in some regions. However, abstraction for irrigation accounts for 83% of the available water resources, competing with other uses. To conserve water resources and encourage demand management in the irrigation ...
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Minimizing health risks during secondary effluent application via subsurface drip irrigation
Health risks posed on consumers due to the use of agricultural products irrigated with reclaimed wastewater were assessed by numerical simulation. The analysis is based on defining of an Exposure Model (EM) which takes into account several parameters: (i) the quality of the applied wastewater, (ii) the irrigation method, (iii) the elapsed times between irrigation, harvest, and product ...
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Eima 2016: A success for irrigation
Energy saving and maximum efficiency are the cardinal points of agriculture 2.0. Today, through the micro irrigation and subsurface irrigation, agricultural production reached a high level of efficiency that assures quality and quantity. “Micro-irrigation”, or drip irrigation, is a method which allows the farmer to give the same amount of water to the roots of each plant, without ...
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The water we eat
Agriculture imposes a heavy and growing burden on Europe's water resources, threatening water shortages and damage to ecosystems. To achieve sustainable water use, farmers must be given the right price incentives, advice and assistance. Food is intrinsically bound to human wellbeing. Besides the importance of good food for good health and the pleasure we derive from eating, agricultural ...
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Hope for Senegal’s blacklisted Ramsar site
June is the end of the hot and dry season in Senegal. More auspiciously, it is peak mango season. As I drove north from the capital of Dakar with a team from the Wetlands International Africa office, mango sellers blanketed the roadside selling the best mangoes I’d ever tasted. On my journey to Senegal’s Ndiaël Avifauna Special Reserve, a former floodplain with wetlands of ...
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Sustainable Management of Large Scale Irrigation Systems: A Decision Support Model for Gediz Basin, Turkey
While water on a global scale is plentiful, 97% of it is saline and 2.25% is trapped in glaciers and ice, leaving only 0.75% available in freshwater aquifers, rivers and lakes. About 70% of this fresh water is used for agricultural production, 22% for industrial purposes and 8% for domestic purposes. Increasing competition for water for domestic and industrial purposes is likely to reduce the ...
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From (cyber)space to ground: new technologies for smart farming
Increased water demand and climate change impacts have recently enhanced the need to improve water resources management, even in those areas which traditionally have an abundant supply of water, such as the Po Valley in northern Italy. The highest consumption of water is devoted to irrigation for agricultural production, and so it is in this area that efforts have to be focused to study ...
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The need for a professional network of agricultural and biosystems engineers in Africa
Agricultural productivity in Africa remains the lowest in the world, but recent concerns about food insecurity, rising food prices and resource depletion have spurred world–wide interest about the role of African agriculture in feeding Africa and the world. Majority of world's uncultivated agricultural land is in Africa, yet the capacity to harness this resource remains limited due partly ...
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Accounting for the market and non-market values of multifunctional outputs in evaluating water transfers to non-agricultural uses: empirical evidence from Taiwanese rice production
Increased demand for water for municipal and industrial uses throughout Taiwan has intensified the pressure to re-allocate water from agricultural to non-agricultural uses. The full policy implications of such water transfers must not only account for the value of lost agricultural production and income, but also any loss in the social value of multifunctional benefits from agricultural ...
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How effectively can technology be used in the agriculture sector?
Today, the agriculture sector is under pressure as the world's population grows. At the same time, the industry is being asked to produce more food with fewer resources in a way that doesn't damage the environment. At least, farmers worldwide need to feed 9.1 billion people in 2050. It's a big challenge, but one that can be met with the help of technology. It's nothing new for farmers to use ...
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Novel simulation-based algorithms for optimal open-loop and closed-loop scheduling of deficit irrigation systems
The scarcity of water compared with the abundance of land constitutes the main drawback within agricultural production. Besides the improvement of irrigation techniques a task of primary importance is solving the problem of intra-seasonal irrigation scheduling under limited seasonal water supply. An efficient scheduling algorithm has to take into account the crops' response to water stress at ...
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What is the difference between traditional and modern farming?
Agricultural systems in various parts of the world have evolved due to technological advances and increasing human knowledge. It develops from primitive agriculture, traditional agriculture to modern agriculture. At that time, hunting and gathering activities are familiar techniques for humans. Conventional agriculture started since humans began to settle and cultivate in one location. This ...
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Farmers fine-tune research, spread their own innovations
Smallholder farmers can aid the uptake of research fruits and drive grassroots innovations. Joel Winston reports. The 1960s' Green Revolution demonstrated how technological innovations can transform agriculture. High-yielding crop strains, irrigation, fertilisers and pesticides were brought into developing countries, including India and the Philippines, increasing yields by more than 250 per ...
By SciDev.Net
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Soil and water: towards a larger-scale perspective of their relations
Land use changes over time have altered relations between soils and water cycles throughout Europe. There are regions where forests were cut for agriculture or herding, or for industrial, mining, and/or railroad use. Soils were lost, through mud floods, and the water cycles changed so that their present status is one of badlands and/or desert-like areas. Early stages in the path to degradation ...
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