United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia Workshop On Water Use Efficiency and...

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

Workshop On Water Use Efficiency and Productivity

(Amman, September 30 – October 4, 2005)

Reflections on the Status of On-Farm Water-Use Efficiency in Selected Countries of West Asia

Presenter:

M.E.Osman

Team LeaderSustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Team

SDPD,ESCWA-BeirutE-Mail: [email protected]


Introduction• Improving water-use efficiency and productivity on a

sustainable basis is an enormous challenge for the water stress and scarce countries of Western Asia.

• The average water-use efficiency for the sector as a whole is around 40 per cent.

• Information on on-farm water-use efficiency is limited, if available at all.

• It does not precisely reflect the complex production decisions at the farm level under different environmental, technological and economic conditions.


• The purpose of this presentation is to share with you the methodology and findings of the six case studies on assessing the status of on-farm water-use efficiency conducted by ESCWA in collaboration with ICARDA in selected sites of four countries namely, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and the Syrian Arab Republic.

• For the purpose of the analysis, on-farm water-use efficiency is defined as the ratio of the required amount of water to the actual amount of water-used.

• Water productivity is simply defined as the amount of production per unit of water applied in the field.

• Agricultural productivity and competitiveness in the region is adversely affected by water scarcity and land degradation.


Irrigation Water Use for selected ESCWA countries in the Year 2000

Egypt

Iraq

Jordan

Lebanon

Saudi Arabia

Syrian Arab

Republic

Total renewable water resources

(cubic Km) 58.3 75.42 0.88 4.407 2.4 26.26Irrigation water

requirements (cubic Km) 28.43 11.2 0.29 0.37 6.68 8.52

Water requirement ratio in percentages 53% 28% 39% 40% 43% 45%

Water withdrawal for agriculture

(cubic Km) 53.85 39.38 0.76 0.92 15.42 18.93Water withdrawal as

percentage of rennewable water 92% 52% 86% 21% 643% 72%

Source: FAO Aquastat


Meeting the Challenges of Agriculture in West Asia

• The relative importance of agriculture in the West Asia region and its contribution to the national economy has gradually declined over the years.

• Agriculture contributes by 8 per cent to total GDP

and by 24 per cent to total labor force in the region.• 44 per cent of the population is still rural.• Agricultural trade deficit amounts to US$ 15.5 billion.• Agricultural exports could only finance 25 per cent of the

cost of the total agricultural imports .


• How to maintain the viability of the agriculture sector while safeguarding the sustainability of the scarce natural resources, mainly land and water.

• Maintaining water quantity and quality .• The region has scarce water resources and limited

fertile land subject to degradation.• Owing to the rapid population growth and irregular

rainfall patterns, the demand for water is seriously exceeding the supply of available water resources.



• Despite the water scarcity challenges, most countries of the region do not treat water as a scarce resource. • Water scarcity is the single most important resource management challenge in the region. • Thus, prudent use of water is becoming an immediate necessity.• Incoherent agricultural and natural resources policies have further contributed to the depletion of land and water resources in many countries in the region.



Water Scarcity• As per the rule of thumb developed by water analysts, countries

with fresh water resources of 1,000 to 1,600 cubic meters per capita per year face water stress, with major problems occurring in drought years. When the annual internal renewable water resources are less than 1,000 cubic meters per capita per annum, then these countries are considered water scarce. Below this threshold (500 cubic meters per capita per annum), water availability is considered a severe constraint on socioeconomic development and environmental quality.

- By the above yardstick, West Asia is a water scarce region. Figure 1, reflects on per capita water availability in the countries of West Asia .


Figure 1: Water Per Capita in theWest Asia Region

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Bahrain Egypt Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Palestine Qatar SaudiArabia

Syria UAE Yemen(Cubic meters per capita per year) 2005 2015 2025

Water scarcity

Water stress

Severe water scarcity


• The region also has limited fertile land subject to different levels of degradation (figures, 2, 3 and 4).

Land Scarcity


Figure 2: Land Use in the West Asia Region

Pastures

12%

Annual crops

4%

Productiv e land

18%Other land

82%

Permanent crops

1% Forests

1%


Figure 3: Categories of Dryland Areas in the West Asia Region

Other1%

Dry subhumid4%

Semi-arid3%

Arid1%

Hyper Arid91%


Figure 4: Status of Land Degradation in the West Asia Region

Severe27%

Moderate18%

Very severe7%

Not degraded23%

Degraded77%

Light25%


• If one applies the conservative benchmark of land scarcity set at 0.07 hectares of arable land per capita (Engelman and LeRoy, 1995), only Iraq, the Syrian Arab Republic and Saudi Arabia and Lebanon will not be classified as land scarce countries, Figure 5.


Figure 5: Per Capita Cultivated Land Availability in the West Asia Region

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

Bahrain Egypt Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Palestine Qatar SaudiArabia

Syria UAE Yemen(Hectares per capita per

year) 2005 2015 2025

Land scarcity

0.07


Concepts, Methods and Data Requirements for Assessing On-Farm

Water-Use Efficiency

• On-farm water-use efficiency is defined as the ratio of the required amount of water (to produce a target output level) to the actual amount of water applied by farmers. Based on this definition, on-farm water-use efficiency may take the value of less than one, greater than one or equal to one.

• Water productivity is simply defined as the amount of production per unit of water applied in the field.


ON-FARM WATER USE EFFICIENCY

• WUE = 1 Perfect Efficiency

• WUE < 1 Over Irrigation

• WUE > 1 Under Irrigation


Identification of Appropriate Methodology

• Three models of water use (allocation)

– Variable-input modelWi = f ( Pi , r , rw , ni ; x )

– Fixed, allocatable- input modelWi = f ( P , r , n1 , n2 , …, nm , W ; x )

– Behavioral modelWi = f ( ni ; x)


- P is a vector of crop prices which are given to producers;

- pi is price of crop i (i = 1,…,m); w is water price;

- r is a vector of variable input prices other than water (v = 1,…,z));

- wi is water allocated to crop i;

- W is farm-level quantity of water;

- ni is land allocated to crop i;

- x is a vector of variables taken as given in the short run (e.g., crop-level irrigation technology and weather).


Data Requirements

• Data was collected using on-farm survey• Main categories included:

– Crop-level acreage use– Crop-level water use– Farm-level water use– Crop-level output prices– Crop-level inputs use and prices– Farm-level water price/cost– Socio-economic characteristics of farmers– Irrigation technology– Soil characteristics– Rainfall, …


WATER USE EFFICIENCY


Six Case Studies of Selected ESCWA Countries

• Three specified models of fixed-allocatable input model, variable input model and behavioral model were estimated for each case study.

• On-farm water-use efficiency was defined as the ratio of the required amount of water (to produce a target output level) to the actual amount of water applied by farmers.

• The target production levels for the crops studied were the average yield levels of the sample farms. To estimate the required amount of water to produce these average yield levels, the estimates of crop water-use equations were used. This was done by calculating the amount of water required for each crop at the mean levels of the independent variables appearing in that equation.


The status of on-farm water–use efficiency in the Beni-Sweif area of Egypt

• Three specified models of fixed-allocatable input model, variable input model and behavioral model were estimated, using on-farm data of 50 producers.

• Farmers in the Beni-Sweif area of Egypt over-irrigated all winter and summer crops by a large amount of water within a range of 25 to 44 per cent .


ACTUAL AND REQUIRED AMOUNTS OF WATER USE BY CROP IN BENI-SWEIF, EGYPT


The status of on-farm water-use efficiency in Nubaria area of Egypt

• Three specified models of fixed-allocatable input, variable input and behavioral (satisficing) models were estimated using on-farm data of 50 producers.

• The crop with the minimum of over-irrigation by 24 per cent was bersem. The crop with the highest level of over-irrigation by 53 per cent was squash.


ACTUAL AND REQUIRED AMOUNTS OF WATER USE BY CROP IN NUBARIA, EGYPT


The status of on-farm water-use

efficiency in the Ninavah province of Iraq

• The data was collected from a cross-sectional survey of 284 farms in 20 districts in the Ninavah province in Northern Iraq.

• To obtain the required amount of water to produce the average yield levels, the estimated water demand equation with the fixed-allocatable input model was used.


On-farm water-use efficiency in wheat production in Ninavah province

Level of WUE Percentage of farmers (%)

Average WUE

<= 0.50 4 0.34

0.51-0.75 20 0.64

0.75-1.0 56 0.87

> 1.0 20 1.10

Total 100 0.77


Effect of farm size on the efficiency of water-use in wheat production in Ninavah province

Farm size (hectares)

Average farm size (hectares)

Farmers (%) Average WUE

<= 10 6.7 51 0.77

10.1 - 20 15.5 25 0.81

> 20 29.1 24 0.72

Total 13.8 100 0.77


Impact of Supplemental Irrigation on Water Productivity in Ninavah province

Water Productivity (kg/m3) Variety Rainfed Supplemental Irrigation

Increase (per cent)

Waha 0.49 0.61 24 Abu-Ghraib 0.43 0.53 23 Um Rabia 0.50 0.62 24 IPA 99 0.41 0.67 63 Sham 3 0.55 0.49 -11 All durum varieties

0.52 0.60 15

All bread varieties 0.44 0.58 32 All varieties 0.45 0.59 31


The status of on–farm water-use

efficiency in the Rabea area of Iraq • The sample farms comprised 100 producers located in a moderate

rainfall zone. • To obtain the required amount of water to produce these average

yield levels, the estimated crop water-use equations with the three models were used.

• On-farm WUE was the highest for tomatoes (0.68), indicating that actual water use exceeded water requirements by about 32 per cent.

• The lowest WUE of 0.32 for sugar beet revealed that producers over-irrigate this crop considerably; in other words, the sugar producers exceeded water requirements of the crop by 68 per cent.


Actual and Required Amounts of Water Use by Crops in Rabea, Iraq


The status of on-farm water use efficiency in the Ghors area of Jordan

• The sample farms in the Ghors area of Jordan comprised 70 producers, distributed among 23 villages.

• The percentages of over-irrigation ranged from a minimum of 23 per cent for citrus to a maximum of 70 per cent for wheat crop.


ESTIMATED AND ACTUAL WATER USE IN THE GHORS AREA, JORDAN


Water Productivity (kg/m3)

Water Productivity (JD/m3) Crop Price

(JD/kg) With Rainfall

Without Rainfall

With Rainfall

Without Rainfall

Tomatoes 0.101 8.48 16.89 0.856 1.706 Potatoes 0.160 4.50 17.84 0.720 2.854 Squash 0.173 3.89 10.05 0.673 1.739 Cucumber 0.138 5.42 8.29 0.748 1.144 Citrus 0.256 2.86 5.73 0.732 1.467 Wheat ?? 0.200 0.45 0.86 0.090 0.172 Eggplant 0.175 2.70 3.73 0.481 0.653 Lettuce 0.260 7.22 16.97 1.877 4.412 Beans 0.424 4.26 17.84 1.806 7.564 Broad beans 0.500 2.01 4.96 1.005 2.480 Cabbage 0.157 5.38 9.07 0.845 1.424 Onions 0.131 3.05 4.81 0.400 0.630

Water Productivity in the Ghors area of Jordan


The status of on-farm water-use efficiency in the Radwania area of the Syrian Arab

Republic

• The sample farms comprised 80 producers distributed among 24 villages.

• A low WUE of 0.45 for barley crop indicated that actual water use exceeded water requirement by 55 per cent.

• Cotton crop, on the other hand, exceeded water requirement only by 24 per cent.


Actual and Required Amounts of Water Use by Crops in Radwania, Syria


The results obtained through the three models used in the case studies conducted jointly by ESCWA and ICARDA have important policy implications.

Assessment of water-use efficiency at the farm levels determined a potential for improving water-use efficiency which could be tapped by sound policies and practices.

The results by farm size showed that small, medium, and large farms have different potentials for improving their water-use efficiency.

Similarly, the irrigation technology produced different levels of water use efficiency when applied.

Conclusions and Recommendations


The main difficulty encountered in such studies is the calculation of actual water-use, given the diversity at the farm levels with respect to source of water and irrigation technology.

It is recommended to involve a multidisciplinary team comprised of different agricultural specialists,

economists and sociologists in conducting and collecting farm survey data for conducting similar case studies.

Conclusions and Recommendations


Conclusions and Recommendations Water shall be managed efficiently and on a sustainable basis. Access to water and other agricultural resources shall be available on an equitable basis and in a fair economic environment that shall provide opportunities for all. Agriculture has the potential for solving the problem of water scarcity through:• Improving irrigation efficiency by getting more crop per drop;•Technology, that offers modern methods for irrigating crops efficiently;•New strategies, innovative policies and approaches;


• Participatory research and extension strategies;

• User friendly models for estimating crop water requirements on a regular basis;

• Appropriate technologies for rainfed agriculture;• Sound agronomic practices;• Raising awareness and capacity building of

stakeholders; and• Sharing of best practices and lessons learned.


Thank You

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