Sustainable Energy Use for Mechanized Wheat Production Systems in Iraq

Abstract

The utilization of agricultural machinery was fully mechanized for wheat production in Iraq. This study essentially aimed to inspect inputs – outputs energy for wheat production in Salah Al-Deen, Iraq. The data were obtained from 45 wheat farms by using face to face questionnaire method in 2022. The findings from this study were determined in five basic operations (i.e. tillage, sowing, fertilizing. spraying, and harvesting). Direct energy sources (fuel and human) accounted for about 51.39% of the total energy used in cultivation. Energy exemplified in fuel recorded the highest rate of the total expenditure of energy, with 51.09 % (6091.01MJ/ha). Farmers utilized nearly 879.11±39.77 MJ/ha of machinery energy, the highest rate of expenditure of machinery energy was in harvesting, which recorded 38.38 % (337.42 ± 23.89 MJ/ha) of the total energy of machinery used in the study. Results of analyzing the energy of fuel that farmers utilized indicated that operations of tillage were about 25.98 % (1582.29 ± 39.43 MJ/ha) of the total energy of fuel. This rate denoted the highest operation of fuel consumption. Harvesting operations followed it. These operations were implemented through the use of engines powered with diesel were about 23.43% (1427.05 ± 35.68 MJ/ha). The average energy input/output ratio was 4.40 for the wheat crop; while energy intensity was 1.79 MJ/kg for the wheat crop.