Investigating the Economic Factors Affecting the Demand for Irrigation of Crops(Case Study: Mashhad Plain)

Water as a vital resource is one of the most important factors for growth and development in human societies. Mashhad plain is one of the critical plains of Iran that the drought of the past years has caused the level of aquifers to drop. This study aims to investigate the factors affecting water demand in the Mashhad plain. Necessary statistics and information for this purpose were collected by the Ministry of Jihad for Agriculture and the Meteorological Department of Khorasan Razavi Province for the dominant crops in the region's cultivation pattern, including wheat, barley, tomatoes, alfalfa, cucumbers and potatoes. In order to determine the amount of water required by the products, the net water demand index, which is a function of evaporation, humidity, rainfall and wind speed, and NETWAT software were used. The factors affecting the net water requirement of these products were investigated using the Sur panel pattern. The net estimated need for the model was used as the amount of water demand. The spatial panel pattern was used to investigate the factors affecting this index. The meaningful of the Neighborhood Variable (Rho) indicates that the pattern under study is spatial and that the use of classical patterns is difficult. The results of the data analysis show that as the price of water, the cost of irrigation, the cost of chemical fertilizers and the cost of renting land increase, the amount of demand for irrigation water decreases and the excessive consumption of water is prevented.