The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) jointly with the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) released a study entitled “Enhancing Agricultural Productivity through On-Farm Water Use Efficiency: An Empirical Case Study of Wheat Production in Iraq”.
The main objective of this study is to assess the current status of on-farm water-use efficiency of wheat under specific farm conditions in the Ninavah province, northern Iraq, where the recent use of supplemental irrigation has been expanded to increase wheat production in rain-fed areas.
For the purpose of this analysis, water-use efficiency was defined as the ratio of the amount of water required to produce a target production level to the actual amount of water-used. The resulting indicators of on-farm water-use efficiency are very useful in guiding policies toward improving irrigation efficiency. Improving water-use efficiency to sustain and improve wheat production in Iraq is vital especially, since the country has been classified as food deficit.
The methods used in this study are based on the methodology of the two empirical studies on economic assessment of on-farm, water-use efficiency, which proved to be a valid approach for conducting further empirical studies. These studies demonstrated the low ratios of water-use efficiency in crop production, implying the tendency of farmers to over-irrigate their crops. — (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
