Water Use Efficiency of Wheat from the Perspective of Water Footprint (Case Study: Sistan and Baluchestan Province)

Wheat is a strategic crop in Iran. One of the main threats to wheat production in Iran is the decrease in the quantity and quality of water resources. In arid and semi-arid regions of Iran, more than 90% of wheat production is done through irrigation. Therefore, improving water use efficiency (WUE) in wheat production is essential. One of the basic ways to increase water use efficiency in the agricultural sector is to estimate the amount of water consumed at different stages of production. The water footprint suggests a new method for assessing the use of water resources in agricultural production. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the water use efficiency of wheat-based on the concept of water footprint. therefore, the water footprint of wheat production was calculated using the Hoekstra and Chapagain (2012) framework, the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method was used to calculate efficiency, and the fair ranking method (FRM) was used to determine efficiency rating. The study area of this research is Sistan and Baluchestan province and the research period is the crop year 1397-1398. The results of the water footprint showed that on average, 1415.8 m3 of water is consumed to produce one ton of wheat in Sistan and Baluchestan province, of which 83% of the total water consumption was through the use of groundwater and surface water and 17% through rainwater. The total water consumption for wheat production is 171.03 million m3. The highest water consumption was related to Zahak, Zabol, Delgan and Iranshahr cities and the lowest water consumption was related to Chabahar, Saravan, Zahedan and Sarbaz. DEA results showed that the average efficiency in wheat water consumption in Sistan and Baluchestan province is 50.92% that Khash and Delgan with an efficiency score of 1 were among the efficient cities.