Studying the Economic Water Footprint of Saffron Crop in the Climate of Torbat Heydariyeh County

Choopan, Yahya; Khashei, Abbas; Zangane, Mohsen

doi:10.22077/jsr.2025.8455.1248

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ PhD in Irrigation and Drainage, Researcher of Saffron Institute;University of Torbat-e Heydarieh, Torbat Heydarieh, Iran.

² Professor, Water Science and Engineering Department of Birjand University and President of Torbat Heydarieh University, Torbat Heydarieh, Iran.

³ Assistant Professor, Economics Department of Ahl al-Bayt International University (AS), Tehran, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22077/jsr.2025.8455.1248

Abstract

Introduction: Water resources in the world are limited, and due to the increase in population and food demand, water consumption for agricultural production will also increase. In our country, due to limited water resources on the one hand and low irrigation efficiency and wastage of a large part of water resources on the other hand, the problem is twofold. Each product in the production chain has a specific temporal and spatial process. This chain has a local to global scope in which water is consumed and disappears. In the meantime, saffron is one of the most important products of the agricultural sector of Iran in arid and semi-arid regions, which is of great importance for earning foreign exchange in order to realize development programs aimed at increasing non-oil exports, and calculating the rial value of its water consumption in the production chain is important.

Materials and Methods: Torbat Heydarieh city is located at 59 degrees 12 minutes east longitude and 34 degrees 17 minutes north latitude at an altitude of 1333 meters above sea level. In this study, the water footprint in saffron production and the comparison of the cost price of saffron based on the amounts of green, blue and gray water in three important production areas, including Rokh Plain of Torbat Heydariyeh County R1, Zaveh Plain R2 and Central Plain of Torbat Heydariyeh R3, were calculated based on field data. The performance of the parameters (saffron yield, saffron water requirement, amount of unconventional water used in field irrigation, amount of water consumed from wells, amount of atmospheric precipitation, evapotranspiration, effective precipitation) that were involved in the research were calculated and collected using statistics from the Agricultural Jihad Organization, meteorological station data, farmers' information, and the country's plant water requirement system. The studied farms had a crop density (9 to 10 tons per hectare), farm age (3 to 4 years), and average farm cultivation area (1 to 10 hectares). Statistical analysis of the data was done using DSTAT software and graphs were drawn using EXCEL software. Also, comparison of means was done using Duncan's test at the level of 5 percent probability.

Results and Discussion: The saffron yield (dry stigma) in R1, R2 and R3 regions was 5.7, 3.35 and 4.1 kg per hectare respectively, and significant differences were observed between different regions. The results of this study showed that there was no significant effect on the amount of water in the studied regions, but a significant difference was observed in the statistical results of green water and gray water between different regions, such that the highest amount for green water (26%) and the lowest amount for gray water (0%) was observed in R1 region. According to the results of saffron yield in R1, R2 and R3 regions, which are 5.7, 3.35 and 1.4 kg/ha respectively and the amount of water requirement in these regions, which is recorded as 280, 340 and 300 mm/day respectively according to field data, water use efficiency values with significant differences were observed between the regions.

Conclusion: Among the Rokh Plain regions, with a value of 5.7 kg/ha, due to more favorable climatic conditions, sufficient water and suitable seasonal rainfall and different planting management, higher yield has been shown than in other research regions. The highest value for green water (26%) and the lowest value for gray water (0%) was observed in R1 region.Water use efficiency values were observed with significant differences between the regions. The highest water use efficiency was observed in the R1 region with 2 gr/m³ according to the results.

Keywords

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