Using water footprint accounting concepts to determine the optimal cropping pattern of rainfed farmlands (Case study: Ghaenat and Zirkuh counties)

The importance and necessity of planning the rainfed cropping pattern of each region can be attributed to the need for optimal use of rainfall and the provision of solutions to increase production efficiency in rainfed agricultural lands. This study was carried out with the aim of taking into account the water footprint to determine the optimal cropping pattern of rainfed agricultural lands in Ghaenat and Zirkoh counties.

 In this study, the appropriate cropping model of rainfed crops was investigated using multi-objective non-linear programming with the aim of reducing green and gray water footprints while maximizing net profit in counties of Zirkoh and Ghaenat. The data was collected in 2018-2019 through surveys and desk studies from databases and weather stations.

The results showed that the optimal cropping model while maintaining the current income in the region reduced the green water footprint by 1898384 m3 ton-1 and 249886 m3 ton-1 in the multi-objective planning model in the region. The results also showed that by reducing the amount of green water footprint in the cropping model, the amount of economic water footprint in rainfed agricultural land decreases. In general, to achieve economic objectives and reduce the water footprint, in the form of multi-objective planning, the reduction of 121 and 58 ha of cultivated area compared to the current pattern in Ghaenat and Zirkoh is inevitable.