Economic Assessment of Change in Cropping Pattern in Siminehrud Sub-basin to Improve Agricultural Water Management: An Effort to Restore Urmia Lake Using PES Scheme

Due to the drying up issue of Urmia Lake, currently several options are under review. Decreasing water demand in agricultural sector through programs like “change in cropping patterns” may undoubtedly be considered as a notable option which requires an economic assessment of further implications of it. In the present research, based on Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) policy tool, we attempted to analyze the results of a technical and economic assessment of likely changes in cropping pattern in a sub-basin of Urmia Lake. For this purpose, first a GIS based land use map was prepared and the suitable areas was identified. Then all information required for assessing the PES scheme were collected according to an Interview-Questionnaire mixed technique. During the field survey phase, 398 questionnaires were completed by farmers in Siminehrud sub-basin. Among various options of PES, payment to farmers to encourage them to change the cropping pattern using three oily plant species (soya, canola and safflower) has been proposed. Then the results have been analyzed in terms of economic impacts. The findings of this study showed that only changing the crop pattern to consider safflower is economically feasible and also technically efficient.