Water use indicators and economic analysis for on-farm irrigation decision: A case study of a super high density olive tree orchard

Abstract

Increasing the efficiency of on-farm water use requires wise decisions on the irrigation system, the irrigation strategy and the method to schedule irrigation, among other factors related to water management. Since the early 2000s, the water productivity approach has been widely used to address this issue. It provides useful indicators to both the biophysical water productivity and the economic performance of irrigation. Analysis of the literature, however, shows both confusion on the use of terms and lack of agreement on the equations. We have addressed the rational use of the water productivity approach for the irrigator to improve both biophysical and economic water productivity at the field scale. We also addressed the increasing use of the water footprint approach at the field scale. The literature shows a lack of consensus on the reliability of the conceptual framework behind that approach. We focused on its potential for irrigation decision making, and concluded that it is not advantageous, as compared to the water productivity approach, for assessing on-farm water use. In addition, we show a case study of a super high density olive orchard which analyses the joint use of economic water productivity indicators and both production and profit functions to improve decision making.