Assessment of Comparative Advantage of Agricultural Crops in Semnan Province Based on Water Productivity

Due to limited access to water, it is necessary to determine the comparative advantage of crops and horticultural products in different parts of the province and identify products that lack the desired productivity. Then, find ways to improve water productivity or replace products with higher comparative advantage with low-yield products. Based on this, the crop and economic productivity index of the province's agricultural and horticultural products under surface irrigation systems was determined. Based on the results of gross economic productivity of horticultural products, pistachio with 48690 Rials per cubic meter had the highest economic productivity, and grapes with 30220 Rials per cubic meter (62% of pistachios) was in second place. In addition, water quality for pistachios can never be generalized for grapes and other crops, and this is a tremendous advantage for pistachios that low-quality water resources can also be used. The lowest gross economic productivity of water for barley, alfalfa, and wheat is equal to 3790, 3990, and 4570 Rials per cubic meter, respectively. The study of fodder corn shows that the net profit from the cultivation of this crop in the surface irrigation system is equal to 51.78 million Rials per hectare and its net profit in the strip drip irrigation system (tape) is equal to 110.87 million Rials, which it has a 2.14-fold increase compared to the conventional irrigation method. The comparative advantage of horticultural products was higher than that of crops, and the replacement and development of orchards instead of some crops is recommended as a solution. In addition, solutions that can be recommended to improve the productivity index include the use of a drip irrigation system (tape) for crops (fodder corn, tomatoes, summer crops, and potatoes) and the use of drip irrigation (normal, subsurface, and subsurface modified drip) for horticultural products. Examination of practical experiences of using tape irrigation system for wheat and barley showed that this method has not improved the agricultural and economic productivity index, which indicates the lack of comparative advantage of wheat and barley cultivation in Semnan Province even with tape irrigation system.