Assessment of Irrigation Water Use Efficiency in Citrus Orchards Using AHP.

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Water Management
• Agronomy

Background:

• Spanish citriculture confronts challenges in irrigation water use efficiency, small orchard sizes, and part-time farming.
• Assessing irrigation water use efficiency and its relationship with farm size and farmer type is crucial for sustainable agriculture.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and test a novel multicriteria approach for assessing irrigation water use efficiency.
• To investigate the impact of orchard size and farmer type (full-time vs. part-time) on irrigation efficiency.

Main Methods:

• Application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique with expert participation.
• Development and testing of a synthetic irrigation efficiency index (IEI) using data from Spanish citrus farms.
• Analysis of data from 24 navelina orange orchards in Eastern Spain.

Main Results:

• Orchard size did not correlate with the irrigation efficiency index (IEI) scores.
• Full-time farmers demonstrated a tendency towards higher IEI scores, indicating greater irrigation water use efficiency.
• The proposed methodology proved effective in a case study within an irrigation community and farmer cooperative.

Conclusions:

• The developed IEI and AHP-based methodology offer a valuable tool for benchmarking and improving irrigation water management in citrus farming.
• Understanding the influence of farmer type is key to enhancing water use efficiency in agriculture.
• The study highlights the potential for data-driven approaches to address water management challenges in similar agricultural contexts.