IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v95y2008i4p458-468.html

Management trends and responses to water scarcity in an irrigation scheme of Southern Spain

Author

Listed:
  • Garci­a-Vila, M.
  • Lorite, I.J.
  • Soriano, M.A.
  • Fereres, E.

Abstract

Improvement of irrigation management in areas subjected to periods of water scarcity requires good knowledge of system performance over long time periods. We have conducted a study aimed at characterizing the behaviour of an irrigated area encompassing over 7000 ha in Southern Spain, since its inception in 1991. Detailed cropping pattern and plot water use records allowed the assessment of irrigation scheme performance using a simulation model that computed maximum irrigation requirements for every plot during the first 15 years of system operations. The ratio of irrigation water used to maximum irrigation requirements (Annual Relative Irrigation Supply, ARIS) was well below 1 and oscillated around 0.6 in the 12 years that there were no water supply restrictions in the district. The ARIS values varied among crops, however, from values between 0.2 and 0.3 for sunflower and wheat, to values approaching 1 for cotton and sugar beet. Farmer interviews revealed some of the causes for the low irrigation water usage which were mainly associated with the attempt to balance profitability and stability, and with the lack of incentives to achieve maximum yields in crops subsidized by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union. The response to water scarcity was also documented through interviews and demonstrated that the change in crop choice is the primary reaction to an anticipated constraint in water supply. Water productivity (value of production divided by the volume of irrigation water delivered; WP) in the district was moderate and highly variable (around 2[euro] m-3) and did not increase with time. Irrigation water productivity (increase in production value due to irrigation divided by irrigation water delivered) was much lower (0.65[euro] m-3) and also, it did not increase with time. The lack of improvement in WP, the low irrigation water usage, and the changes in cropping patterns over the first 15 years of operation indicate that performance trends in irrigated agriculture are determined by a complex mix of technical, economic, and socio-cultural factors, as those that characterized the behaviour of the Genil-Cabra irrigation scheme.

Suggested Citation

  • Garci­a-Vila, M. & Lorite, I.J. & Soriano, M.A. & Fereres, E., 2008. "Management trends and responses to water scarcity in an irrigation scheme of Southern Spain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 95(4), pages 458-468, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:95:y:2008:i:4:p:458-468
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378-3774(07)00295-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lorite, I.J. & Mateos, L. & Orgaz, F. & Fereres, E., 2007. "Assessing deficit irrigation strategies at the level of an irrigation district," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 91(1-3), pages 51-60, July.
    2. Satti, Sudheer R. & Jacobs, Jennifer M., 2004. "A GIS-based model to estimate the regionally distributed drought water demand," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 1-13, April.
    3. Gomez-Limon, Jose Antonio & Arriaza Balmón, Manuel, 2000. "Socio-Economic and Environmental Impact of AGENDA 2000 and Alternative Policy Choices for Market Liberalization on an Irrigated Area in Northwestern Spain," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 1(2), pages 1-14, August.
    4. Maton, L. & Leenhardt, D. & Goulard, M. & Bergez, J.-E., 2005. "Assessing the irrigation strategies over a wide geographical area from structural data about farming systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 293-311, December.
    5. Cai, X. & Rosegrant, M. W., 2003. "World water productivity: current situation and future options," Book Chapters,, International Water Management Institute.
    6. Cai, Ximing & McKinney, Daene C. & Rosegrant, Mark W., 2003. "Sustainability analysis for irrigation water management in the Aral Sea region," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 1043-1066, June.
    7. Coelho, M. B. & Villalobos, F. J. & Mateos, L., 2003. "Modeling root growth and the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum of cotton crops," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 99-118, May.
    8. José A. Gómez‐Limón & Manuel Arriaza & Julio Berbel, 2002. "Conflicting Implementation of Agricultural and Water Policies in Irrigated Areas in the EU," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 259-281, July.
    9. Lal Kalu, Indra & Nidhi Paudyal, Guna & Das Gupta, Ashim, 1995. "Equity and efficiency issues in irrigation water distribution," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 335-348, December.
    10. Iglesias, Eva & Garrido, Alberto & Gomez-Ramos, Almudena, 2003. "Evaluation of drought management in irrigated areas," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 211-229, October.
    11. Fountas, S. & Wulfsohn, D. & Blackmore, B.S. & Jacobsen, H.L. & Pedersen, S.M., 2006. "A model of decision-making and information flows for information-intensive agriculture," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 192-210, February.
    12. repec:iwt:conppr:h044141 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. repec:iwt:bosers:h032631 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Playan, Enrique & Mateos, Luciano, 2006. "Modernization and optimization of irrigation systems to increase water productivity," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 80(1-3), pages 100-116, February.
    15. repec:iwt:bosers:h032641 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Sarma, P. B. S. & Rao, V. V., 1997. "Evaluation of an irrigation water management scheme -- a case study," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 181-195, February.
    17. Dechmi, F. & Playan, E. & Faci, J. M. & Tejero, M., 2003. "Analysis of an irrigation district in northeastern Spain: I. Characterisation and water use assessment," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 75-92, June.
    18. Utset, Angel & Martinez-Cob, Antonio & Farre, Imma & Cavero, Jose, 2006. "Simulating the effects of extreme dry and wet years on the water use of flooding-irrigated maize in a Mediterranean landplane," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 85(1-2), pages 77-84, September.
    19. Caballero, Rafael, 2001. "Typology of cereal-sheep farming systems in Castile-La Mancha (south-central Spain)," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 215-232, June.
    20. Tanaka, Yukio & Sato, Yohei, 2005. "Farmers managed irrigation districts in Japan: Assessing how fairness may contribute to sustainability," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 77(1-3), pages 196-209, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Soto-García, M. & Martínez-Alvarez, V. & García-Bastida, P.A. & Alcon, F. & Martin-Gorriz, B., 2013. "Effect of water scarcity and modernisation on the performance of irrigation districts in south-eastern Spain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 11-19.
    2. Taguas, Encarnación V. & Cuadrado-Alarcón, Blanca & Domenech, Ignacio & Carmona, M. Ascensión & Mateos, Luciano & Gomez-Macpherson, Helena, 2025. "Irrigation performance and hydrological indicators in an irrigated catchment: How participatory research within a FabLab can contribute to sustainable irrigated production," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 316(C).
    3. Firat Arslan & Juan Ignacio Córcoles Tendero & Juan Antonio Rodríguez Díaz & Demetrio Antonio Zema, 2023. "Comparison of Irrigation Management in Water User Associations of Italy, Spain and Turkey Using Benchmarking Techniques," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 37(1), pages 55-74, January.
    4. Silvestre García de Jalón & Marta González del Tánago & Carlos Alonso & Diego García de Jalón, 2017. "The Environmental Costs of Water Flow Regulation: an Innovative Approach Based on the ‘Polluter Pays’ Principle," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(9), pages 2809-2822, July.
    5. Zema, Demetrio Antonio & Nicotra, Angelo & Mateos, Luciano & Zimbone, Santo Marcello, 2018. "Improvement of the irrigation performance in Water Users Associations integrating data envelopment analysis and multi-regression models," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 38-49.
    6. Córcoles, J.I. & de Juan, J.A. & Ortega, J.F. & Tarjuelo, J.M. & Moreno, M.A., 2010. "Management evaluation of Water Users Associations using benchmarking techniques," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Ignacio Lorite & Margarita García-Vila & María-Ascensión Carmona & Cristina Santos & María-Auxiliadora Soriano, 2012. "Assessment of the Irrigation Advisory Services’ Recommendations and Farmers’ Irrigation Management: A Case Study in Southern Spain," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(8), pages 2397-2419, June.
    8. Kafle, Kashi & Balasubramanya, Soumya, 2021. "Can Perceptions of Reduction in Physical Water Availability Affect Irrigation Behaviors? Evidence from Jordan," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315121, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. García-Tejero, I. & Romero-Vicente, R. & Jiménez-Bocanegra, J.A. & Martínez-García, G. & Durán-Zuazo, V.H. & Muriel-Fernández, J.L., 2010. "Response of citrus trees to deficit irrigation during different phenological periods in relation to yield, fruit quality, and water productivity," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(5), pages 689-699, May.
    10. Salvador, R. & Martínez-Cob, A. & Cavero, J. & Playán, E., 2011. "Seasonal on-farm irrigation performance in the Ebro basin (Spain): Crops and irrigation systems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(4), pages 577-587, February.
    11. Martínez-Alvarez, V. & García-Bastida, P.A. & Martin-Gorriz, B. & Soto-García, M., 2014. "Adaptive strategies of on-farm water management under water supply constraints in south-eastern Spain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 59-67.
    12. Varghese, Shalet Korattukudy & Veettil, Prakashan Chellattan & Speelman, Stijn & Buysse, Jeroen & Van Huylenbroeck, Guido, 2013. "Estimating the causal effect of water scarcity on the groundwater use efficiency of rice farming in South India," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 55-64.
    13. Demetrio Antonio Zema & Pasquale Filianoti & Daniela D’Agostino & Antonino Labate & Manuel Esteban Lucas-Borja & Angelo Nicotra & Santo Marcello Zimbone, 2020. "Analyzing the Performances of Water User Associations to Increase the Irrigation Sustainability: An Application of Multivariate Statistics to a Case Study in Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-18, August.
    14. Cruz-Blanco, M. & Lorite, I.J. & Santos, C., 2014. "An innovative remote sensing based reference evapotranspiration method to support irrigation water management under semi-arid conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 135-145.
    15. García-López, J. & Lorite, I.J. & García-Ruiz, R. & Ordoñez, R. & Dominguez, J., 2016. "Yield response of sunflower to irrigation and fertilization under semi-arid conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 151-162.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Basil Manos & Thomas Bournaris & Mohd Kamruzzaman & Moss Begum & Ara Anjuman & Jason Papathanasiou, 2006. "Regional Impact of Irrigation Water Pricing in Greece under Alternative Scenarios of European Policy: A Multicriteria Analysis," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(9), pages 1055-1068.
    2. Franco-Luesma, Samuel & Álvaro-Fuentes, Jorge & Plaza-Bonilla, Daniel & Arrúe, José Luis & Cantero-Martínez, Carlos & Cavero, José, 2019. "Influence of irrigation time and frequency on greenhouse gas emissions in a solid-set sprinkler-irrigated maize under Mediterranean conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 303-311.
    3. Elnour, Razan & Chukalla, Abebe & Mohamed, Yasir A. & Verzijl, Andres, 2024. "Multiscale spatial variability in land and water productivity across the Gezira irrigation scheme, Sudan," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    4. Playan, Enrique & Mateos, Luciano, 2006. "Modernization and optimization of irrigation systems to increase water productivity," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 80(1-3), pages 100-116, February.
    5. Soto-García, M. & Martínez-Alvarez, V. & García-Bastida, P.A. & Alcon, F. & Martin-Gorriz, B., 2013. "Effect of water scarcity and modernisation on the performance of irrigation districts in south-eastern Spain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 11-19.
    6. Barros, R. & Isidoro, D. & Aragüés, R., 2011. "Long-term water balances in La Violada Irrigation District (Spain): II. Analysis of irrigation performance," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(10), pages 1569-1576, August.
    7. Manos, Basil & Begum, Moss. Anjuman Ara & Kamruzzaman, Mohd. & Nakou, Ioanna & Papathanasiou, Jason, 2007. "Fertilizer price policy, the environment and farms behavior," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 87-97.
    8. Cao, Xinchun & Zeng, Wen & Wu, Mengyang & Guo, Xiangping & Wang, Weiguang, 2020. "Hybrid analytical framework for regional agricultural water resource utilization and efficiency evaluation," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    9. Stambouli, T. & Faci, J.M. & Zapata, N., 2014. "Water and energy management in an automated irrigation district," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 66-76.
    10. Connor, Jeffery D. & Kandulu, John M. & Bark, Rosalind H., 2014. "Irrigation revenue loss in Murray–Darling Basin drought: An econometric assessment," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 163-170.
    11. Geerts, Sam & Raes, Dirk, 2009. "Deficit irrigation as an on-farm strategy to maximize crop water productivity in dry areas," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(9), pages 1275-1284, September.
    12. Bartolini, F. & Bazzani, G.M. & Gallerani, V. & Raggi, M. & Viaggi, D., 2007. "The impact of water and agriculture policy scenarios on irrigated farming systems in Italy: An analysis based on farm level multi-attribute linear programming models," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 93(1-3), pages 90-114, March.
    13. Christine Heumesser & Sabine Fuss & Jana Szolgayová & Franziska Strauss & Erwin Schmid, 2012. "Investment in Irrigation Systems under Precipitation Uncertainty," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(11), pages 3113-3137, September.
    14. Iraizoz, Belen & Gorton, Matthew & Davidova, Sophia, 2007. "Segmenting farms for analysing agricultural trajectories: A case study of the Navarra region in Spain," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 93(1-3), pages 143-169, March.
    15. Gil, Marina & Garrido, Alberto & Gómez-Ramos, Almudena, 2011. "Economic analysis of drought risk: An application for irrigated agriculture in Spain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(5), pages 823-833, March.
    16. Veisi, Hadi & Deihimfard, Reza & Shahmohammadi, Alireza & Hydarzadeh, Yasoub, 2022. "Application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in a multi-criteria selection of agricultural irrigation systems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    17. Salvador, R. & Martínez-Cob, A. & Cavero, J. & Playán, E., 2011. "Seasonal on-farm irrigation performance in the Ebro basin (Spain): Crops and irrigation systems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(4), pages 577-587, February.
    18. Ren, Dongyang & Xu, Xu & Engel, Bernard & Huang, Quanzhong & Xiong, Yunwu & Huo, Zailin & Huang, Guanhua, 2021. "A comprehensive analysis of water productivity in natural vegetation and various crops coexistent agro-ecosystems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    19. Tapsuwan, Sorada & Peña-Arancibia, Jorge L. & Lazarow, Neil & Albisetti, Melisa & Zheng, Hongxing & Rojas, Rodrigo & Torres-Alferez, Vianney & Chiew, Francis H.S. & Hopkins, Richard & Penton, David J., 2022. "A benefit cost analysis of strategic and operational management options for water management in hyper-arid southern Peru," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    20. Andarzian, B. & Bannayan, M. & Steduto, P. & Mazraeh, H. & Barati, M.E. & Barati, M.A. & Rahnama, A., 2011. "Validation and testing of the AquaCrop model under full and deficit irrigated wheat production in Iran," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 1-8.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:95:y:2008:i:4:p:458-468. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.