Energy use on wheat production: A comparative analysis of irrigated and dry-land wheat production systems in Kermanshah

Agricultural systems around the world face the challenge of providing the needs of a growing human population. To meet this demand, agricultural systems have intensified to produce more crops at the expense of greater energy inputs. Agricultural intensification, while yielding more crops, generally has detrimental impacts on energy use efficiency. The aim of this study was to compare of wheat production in dry-land (low input) and irrigated (high input) farms in Kermanshah in terms of energy ratio, benefit/cost ratio and amount of energy use. Data were collected from 60 irrigated and 60 dry-land wheat farms selected using a random sampling method in 2013. The total energy requirement under low input was 14520.8 MJ ha-1, while 41921.8 MJ ha-1 was consumed under high input conditions, so that three times higher energy input was used on irrigated than dry-land farms. The energy ratios of 1.88 and 1.56 were achieved under dry-land and irrigated systems, respectively. The results showed that the greatest energy consuming input for the different operations investigated were chemical fertilizers, especially nitrogen (35.6% in dry-land against 25.9% in irrigated systems), and the total energy equivalent of diesel fuel consumption was placed second among the energy inputs (25.9% in dry-land against 13.4% in irrigated systems). Economic analysis indicated that the benefit–cost ratios were 1.87 in dry-land and 1.85 in irrigated wheat production systems. Based on the results of the present study, dry-land farming can have a significant effect on energy-related factors, especially in the arid climates of Iran.