Greenhouse gas emissions footprint of agricultural production in Guilan province of Iran

Abstract

Agricultural production systems have been contributed to some negative effects on the environment. Therefore, in this research the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions footprint associated with tea, peanut and kiwifruit production in Guilan province of Iran was studied. Data were collected using farmers’ questionnaire in the 2012–2013 production years. The results revealed that the highest share of GHG emissions for tea, peanut and kiwifruit production systems belonged to chemical fertilizer (76%), diesel fuel (58%) and electricity (47%), respectively. The total GHG emissions footprints for the production of these crops were calculated as 1281.82, 822.29 and 4518.99kgCO2eqha−1, respectively. The correlation between farm size and GHG emissions in the production of all three crops were inverse. It means that the large farms produced the least amount of GHG emissions compared to the small farms in Guilan province of Iran. The amount of GHG emissions footprints per capita of farmers in tea, peanut and kiwifruit production in Guilan province were obtained 256.36, 657.83 and 3163.29kgCO2eq per farmer, respectively. Overall, the amount of GHG emissions per capita of farmers in Guilan province of Iran was 1359.16kgCO2eq in that year.