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Economic Value of Tree Fruit Production in Jordan Valley from a Virtual Water Perspective

Mourad, Khaldoon A. LU ; Gaese, Hartmut and Jabarin, Amer S. (2010) In Water Resources Management 24(10). p.2021-2034
Abstract
The continuous high demand of water resources for agricultural uses in Jordan is leading to a water crisis. A possible partial solution may be to import food which requires large amounts of water to grow instead of cultivating high water consuming crops. Crops such as banana and citrus cause a huge virtual water loss, which can be reduced by cultivating other less water-demanding crops. This paper focuses on analyzing the economic value of cultivating tree fruit from a virtual water perspective. The virtual water calculations in this study depend on the average rainfall, water quota, and the crops' water requirements (CWR). The gross profit to the water use ratio showed that banana has the lowest value 0.085 JD/m(3), while lemon has the... (More)
The continuous high demand of water resources for agricultural uses in Jordan is leading to a water crisis. A possible partial solution may be to import food which requires large amounts of water to grow instead of cultivating high water consuming crops. Crops such as banana and citrus cause a huge virtual water loss, which can be reduced by cultivating other less water-demanding crops. This paper focuses on analyzing the economic value of cultivating tree fruit from a virtual water perspective. The virtual water calculations in this study depend on the average rainfall, water quota, and the crops' water requirements (CWR). The gross profit to the water use ratio showed that banana has the lowest value 0.085 JD/m(3), while lemon has the highest value 1.65 JD/m(3). The calculations show that the average embedded water in fruits varies from about 470 m(3)/ton for grapes to about 2,500 m(3)/ton for dates. Banana and citrus plantations consume about 21 and 71 million cubic meters (MCM) annually, respectively, which represent about 85% of the total water consumption in fruit tree plantation. The virtual water flow estimation embedded in fruits shows that Jordan imports about 77 MCM per year. However it exports about 29 MCM per year. The results were analyzed from an integrated water resources management (IWRM) perspective. The analysis shows that a way to recover some of the water costs involved in, e.g., banana production would be to increase the fertilizer cost by about 10%. This would double the water cost and increase the banana production cost by about 6.8%. Using this alternative could be a way to better manage the huge losses in virtual water involved in banana production in the Jordan Valley. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Crop water requirement, Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)
in
Water Resources Management
volume
24
issue
10
pages
2021 - 2034
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • wos:000280242500005
  • scopus:77955055759
ISSN
0920-4741
DOI
10.1007/s11269-009-9536-9
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0f096ab8-7a20-4928-929a-a4e6d9660b07 (old id 1654725)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:08:10
date last changed
2022-02-26 19:34:09
@article{0f096ab8-7a20-4928-929a-a4e6d9660b07,
  abstract     = {{The continuous high demand of water resources for agricultural uses in Jordan is leading to a water crisis. A possible partial solution may be to import food which requires large amounts of water to grow instead of cultivating high water consuming crops. Crops such as banana and citrus cause a huge virtual water loss, which can be reduced by cultivating other less water-demanding crops. This paper focuses on analyzing the economic value of cultivating tree fruit from a virtual water perspective. The virtual water calculations in this study depend on the average rainfall, water quota, and the crops' water requirements (CWR). The gross profit to the water use ratio showed that banana has the lowest value 0.085 JD/m(3), while lemon has the highest value 1.65 JD/m(3). The calculations show that the average embedded water in fruits varies from about 470 m(3)/ton for grapes to about 2,500 m(3)/ton for dates. Banana and citrus plantations consume about 21 and 71 million cubic meters (MCM) annually, respectively, which represent about 85% of the total water consumption in fruit tree plantation. The virtual water flow estimation embedded in fruits shows that Jordan imports about 77 MCM per year. However it exports about 29 MCM per year. The results were analyzed from an integrated water resources management (IWRM) perspective. The analysis shows that a way to recover some of the water costs involved in, e.g., banana production would be to increase the fertilizer cost by about 10%. This would double the water cost and increase the banana production cost by about 6.8%. Using this alternative could be a way to better manage the huge losses in virtual water involved in banana production in the Jordan Valley.}},
  author       = {{Mourad, Khaldoon A. and Gaese, Hartmut and Jabarin, Amer S.}},
  issn         = {{0920-4741}},
  keywords     = {{Crop water requirement; Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{10}},
  pages        = {{2021--2034}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Water Resources Management}},
  title        = {{Economic Value of Tree Fruit Production in Jordan Valley from a Virtual Water Perspective}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11269-009-9536-9}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s11269-009-9536-9}},
  volume       = {{24}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}