The effects of the policies of increasing the price of irrigation water and reducing available water on the water productivity of crops (Case Study: Shahdad County, Kerman City)

Water is one of the factors limiting the development of the countryʼs agricultural economy and the appropriate way of allocating this input among different activities of agriculture is one of the main goals of agricultural sector policy makers in order to improve its efficiency and effectiveness. The water economic productivity of crops can be considered as an appropriate measure to identify the appropriate water allocation policy for each region.Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of policies on increasing the price of irrigation water (through increased extraction costs) and reducing available water (through blocking unauthorized wells and installing the meter on agricultural wells) on the water economic productivity index of the main crops of the Shahdad county located in Kerman city.The data and statistics were collected using random sampling and distribution of questionnaires among 106 farmers in Shahdad county. To investigate the effects of water management policies, the PMP model and the NPBD index for calculating the water economic productivity of agricultural crop was used. The results of calculating the NPBD index showed that among the selected crops, garlic crop with 10,025 Rials per cubic meter has the most economic water productivity. Also, the policy of reducing water availability had the least effect on the economic water productivity index of garlic product, by 18.64%. In addition, the mentioned policy, imposes the least economic losses on farmers in the region. It is suggested that before applying the policies of increasing the price of irrigation water and reducing available water consider the effects and consequences of these policies on the water productivity of crops in the region.