Climatic potential assessment of areas prone to rain-fed wheat and sugarcane cultivation Case study: Khuzestan province)

The aim of this study is climatic-agricultural empowerment of rain-fed wheat and sugarcane cultivation using three methods FAO, Papadakis and UNESCO in Khuzestan province. Areas prone to dryland wheat cultivation have been used. For this purpose, 23-year statistics (1994-2016) daily climatic data related to temperature, precipitation, sundial, relative humidity and wind direction and speed of 10 synoptic stations in the province were used. The results of this study showed that most parts of the northern and northeastern regions of the province are suitable for dryland wheat cultivation and the southern and southwestern parts were unsuitable in this regard. In the meantime, the efficiency of the two methods of FAO and Papadakis was better than that of UNESCO. One of the remarkable results of this study is the identification of potential areas for sugarcane cultivation in Khuzestan province by the results of two methods, FAO and Papadakis. According to the results of these two methods, the central, southern and southwestern parts of the province are suitable for sugarcane cultivation, while according to the realities of the region, this plant is cultivated only in Ahvaz city. In the case of sugarcane, neither FAO nor Papadakis has been superior in efficiency.