Management of maize Sustainable production in Iran: A Social Benefits Approach

maize as one of the most important crops has a significant strategic role in Iran, so it is cultivated as an important crop in all provinces of Iran and farmers earn profit from their cultivation. Therefore, in this study, economic benefits, environmental costs and, ultimately, social benefits of maize cultivation were calculated in different provinces of Iran. In order to calculate the environmental costs, the maize gray water was calculated. Results showed that all Iranian provinces have economic benefits, but by calculating the gray water and consequently the environmental cost, it was determined that the provinces of Mazandaran, Fars and North Khorasan have the highest environmental cost. This has led to social losses in some of these provinces. The results showed that the provinces of Kohkiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad, Qazvin and East Azarbaijan have the most social benefits in the cultivation of maize. However, the provinces of Khuzestan, Kermanshah and Fars, which have the most cultivated areas in different years, have lower social benefits, so that Kermanshah province has social losses.