Abstract
Iran has the second rank in production and cultivation area and the fifth in exporting date palm in the world. Even though the date palm has a high economic value, due to the water crisis in Iran, the effect of date palm production on the water resources along with its economic value should be considered. This research assesses the index of water footprint and economic value of water footprint for three cultivars of date palms, including the soft, semi-dry and dry during the period 2008–2016. Through this study, these indices have been computed for date palms and compared with the other agricultural products in Iran. Finally, the results are used for prioritization of the cultivated area. The outputs show that the average footprint and economic value of water footprint for date palm is 3.02 m3/kg and 0.59 USD/m3, respectively, which in this regards the share of green, blue and grey water footprint are 9.1 %, 76.9 %, and 14 %. The maximum value of water footprint (8.6 m3/kg) and economic value of water footprint (1.49 USD/m3) belongs to the dry date palm while the minimum value of those indices is 0.97 m3/kg and 0.19 USD/m3 which belongs to the semi-dry date palm. In comparison the date palm with 43 agricultural products in Iran, the dry date palm is ranked 33 in water footprint and 18 in the economic value of water footprint while the semi-dry and the soft date palms are ranked 33 and 34 in water footprint and 29 and 30 in the economic value of water footprint. The volume of water footprint for date palm is about 2437 million cubic meters (MCM) per year in Iran, which the share of soft, semi-dry, and dry date palms are 79.6 %, 18 %, and 2.45 % respectively. The volume of the exported virtual water is 1243 MCM with 733 million USD economic value of water footprint, whereas the net benefit of exported date palm is one-quarter of its economic value of water footprint. The results of this study show that the indices discussed through this study capable to provide valuable information for prioritization of date palm cultivation and management of water resources in Iran.
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