Sustainable Optimization of Crop Pattern using Game Theory with Side-Payment (Case Study: Urmia Plane, Urmia Lake Basin)

In this study, the performance of the competitive and cooperative game and side-payment technique in the analysis of the conflict of interest of environment and water resources users was evaluated. In a competitive game, the players decide to compete with each other in order to maximize their individual payoff. But in a cooperative game, the goal of the players is to maximize the total utility of both players that, this desirability is the maximum income per unit area for farmers and the minimum water demand per unit area for the environment. But farmers care more about their individual benefits and are more interested in competitive game. As an effective technique, side-payment, by transferring some of the benefits between the players, equalizes the individual benefits of the players in both cooperative and competitive conditions. In such circumstances, it is possible to obtain the consent of the agricultural water consumers to implement the desired environmental cropping pattern. In this study, the conditions of conflict between the economic interests of the agricultural sector and the environmental considerations of the Urmia Lake ecosystem in the Urmia plain with the independence of game theory innovatively evaluated. Based on the results, the amount of water demand of the optimal cultivation pattern and the amount of income per unit area (hectare) in the competitive and cooperative game are 4788 cubic meters and 21.24 million Tomans and 3492 cubic meters and 19.97 million Tomans, respectively.