Evaluation of Water Use Productivity Indicators in the Main Agricultural Products of Iran

Although the agricultural sector consumes more than 90% of the extracted water, its efficiency is lower than other sectors. Also, according to the population growth and critical role of food security, and the necessity to supply water to other sectors, an increasing pressure to save water, optimized consumption and increasing water use productivity in agriculture will occur in the future. Nowadays improving water use productivity and producing more crops per water unit consumed are the main objectives of agricultural activities. There are several indexes to evaluate the water use productivity in agriculture. Hence, investigation on the capabilities and deficiencies of each index is necessary. In this study, four indexes of water use productivity including produced crop per one cubic meter of water (CPD), gross benefit per one cubic meter of water (BPD), net benefit per one cubic meter of water (NBPD) and benefit to cost ratio for three major crops in Iran, namely wheat, barley and potato are evaluated and located with geographic information system (GIS). Results show that by combining all four indexes, wheat in northern and western areas and Khuzestan province, barley in Khorasan Razavi province and northern and central areas and potato in Hamedan province and northeast areas have a better distribution in Iran.