Abstract
The concept of agricultural and environmental sustainability refers to minimizing the degradation of natural resources while increasing crop productions; assessment of inflow and outflow energy resources is helpful in highlighting the resilience of the system and maintaining its productivity. In this regard, the current study evaluated the amount of energy input–output of cotton productions and their environmental interventions. Data are randomly collected from 400 cotton farmers through face-to-face interview. Results suggested that the major energy is consumed by three culprits, i.e., chemical fertilizer, diesel fuel, and irrigation water (11,532.60, 11,121.54, and 4,531.97 MJ ha−1, respectively). Total greenhouse gas (GHG) emission is 1,106.12 kg CO2eq ha−1 with the main share coming from diesel fuel, machinery, and irrigation water. Stimulating data of energies, e.g., energy use efficiency (1.53), specific energy (7.69 MJ kg−1), energy productivity (0.13 kg MJ−1), and net energy gained (16,409.77 MJ ha−1). Further analysis using data envelopment analysis (DEA) showed that low technical efficiency, i.e., 69.02%, is the most probable cause of poor energy use efficiency. The impermanent trend in growth of energy efficiency has been witnessed with plausible potential of energy savings from 4,048.012 to 16,194.77 MJ ha−1 and a reduction of 148.96–595.96 kg CO2eq ha−1 in GHG emission. Cobb–Douglas production function is further applied to discover the associations of energy input to output, which inferred that chemical fertilizer, diesel fuel, machinery, and biocides have significant effect on cotton yield. The marginal physical productivity (MPP) values obliged that the additional use in energy (1 MJ) from fuel (diesel), biocides, and machinery can enhance cotton yield at the rate of 0.35, 1.52, and 0.45 kg ha−1, respectively. Energy saving best links with energy sharing data, i.e., 55.66% (direct), 44.34% (indirect), 21.05% (renewable), and 78.95% (nonrenewable), further unveiled the high usage of nonrenewable energy resources (fossil fuels) that ultimately contributes to high emissions of GHGs. We hope that these findings could help in the management of energy budget that we believe will reduce the high emissions of GHGs.
Highlights
The Pakistan agricultural food basket is dominated by production of grain and cash crops such as wheat, rice, sugarcane, and cotton that is currently being deteriorated by the traditional farming approaches (Rehman et al, 2016; Elahi et al, 2019b; Elahi et al, 2019c)
The results of this study showed that diesel fuel and irrigation water with the contribution of 642.16 and 253.26 kg CO2eq ha−1 are the most important inputs in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission for cotton production, as cotton is a water-intensive crop that leads to higher GHG emission
The current assessment of energy use and GHG emissions in cotton production resulted in the following conclusions
Summary
The Pakistan agricultural food basket is dominated by production of grain and cash crops such as wheat, rice, sugarcane, and cotton that is currently being deteriorated by the traditional farming approaches (Rehman et al, 2016; Elahi et al, 2019b; Elahi et al, 2019c). There are few studies on energy input–output of cotton production; Kazemi et al (2018) analyzed the energy use efficiency of cotton cultivations in two climatic regions of Iran (Darab and Gorgan). Pellegrini and Fernández (2018) studied the energy use efficiency and suggested possible remedies for preserving natural resources, so that the intensive demand and excessive utilization can be revived with suitable production structure, proper farm management, and adoption of new strategies and technologies. A comprehensive assessment of the farm production process is to do what is required to enhance energy use efficiency of crop inputs and develop innovative techniques for sustainable development (Rezvani Moghaddam et al, 2011; Asgharipour et al, 2012; Mondani et al, 2017). The purpose of this study is to assess energy efficiency at operational level (farm level) of agronomic inputs, GHG emissions, and utilization of renewable energy and nonrenewable energy resources at cotton farms of Pakistan. The findings of this study can be helpful to achieve the fundamental principles of sustainability, i.e., dynamic balance and integrated management
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