Evaluation and Comparison of Rain Fed and Irrigated Wheat Sustainability in Golestan Province

The present study was conducted to evaluate and compare the sustainability of rain fed and irrigated wheat products in Golestan province.

The required data were collected from Golestan Agricultural Jihad Organization, Agricultural Jihad Agricultural Production Cost System and also by completing the questionnaires. Also, to weighing criteria and sub-criteria that determines the sustainability, some expert’s opinions in agricultural economics, agricultural extension and education, environment, agronomy and plant protection were used. Finally, using aggregation of economic, social and environmental indicators, the sustainability of the irrigated and rain fed wheat in Golestan province during 2015-2016 was evaluated and compared. Hierarchical analysis method was used for achieving the research purpose.

The results of this study showed that rain fed wheat in the environmental indices (fertilizer use, pesticides use, irrigation water, farm machinery and combined agriculture) with the score of 0.679is more compatible with the environment than irrigated wheat with a score of 0.331. Also, in economic indices (gross margin of agriculture, product gross margin, crop yield and insurance yield), irrigated wheat with the score of 0.538 was more sustainable than rain fed wheat, with a sustainability score of 0.462. Finally, in social indicators (level of education, age of farmers, labor sub jobs and family size), rainfed wheat with a score of 0.56 is more sustainable than irrigated wheat with a score of 0.44. In addition, the overall sustainability index indicates that rainfed wheat is more sustainable than irrigated wheat.

According to the results, it is recommended that wheat cultivation should be promoted with dehydration-resistant species.