Abstract
The aim of this work is to provide a methodology for analysing socioeconomic aspects of water resource management that will provide with an objective decision making tool. To validate the proposed analysis method here, we refer to three artichoke production options. The economic evaluations indicate that the drip irrigation systems are viable and profitable. The traditional method of flooding is not a viable option despite needing the lowest investment, but is close to the viability threshold. In reference to water use efficiency, option 1 is by far the most effective (3.60 kg·m-3 compared with 2.25 and 2.18 kg·m-3, respectively). In our analysis we find that the most productive systems generate the most employment per unit of surface area. Option 1 is the most competitive in relation with the water factor, since it could support prices up to 0.53 €·m-3 and still be economically viable. System 2 will not be viable if the price exceeds 0.22 €·m-3. Option 3 is viable up to 0.17 €·m-3, which is more than is paid at the present time in Sardinia, although such an option would not be viable in south-eastern Spain.
Highlights
Throughout the Mediterranean Basin, water is an important production factor and an economic benefit, whose commercial value differs from that of normal market goods
It is possible to construct an economic theory for each use and, within these, each of the associated productive activities, which justifies the decisions taken for assigning water resources when these are the object of competition between various activities
We study an average production year, using data obtained from the exploitations of both areas by questionnaire and other data concerning production provided by public sector technicians working in the field of agrarian production: in Murcia from the Oficinas Comarcales Agrarias and Centros Integrados de Capacitación y Experiencias Agrarias, both belonging to the Local Government Department of Agriculture, and, in Sardinia, the Agencia Laore Sardegna
Summary
Throughout the Mediterranean Basin, water is an important production factor and an economic benefit, whose commercial value differs from that of normal market goods. This differences lies in the fact that it is the good’s use, in this case, that has the value and it is not possible to speak of its final nor-long term appropriation. It is possible to construct an economic theory for each use and, within these, each of the associated productive activities, which justifies the decisions taken for assigning water resources when these are the object of competition between various activities. The application of economic theory to water use and the economic analysis of the activities in which this resource intervenes, in the area that concerns us, which must involve political recommendations for the best public use of water [1]
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