Determination of agricultural water prices based on sustainable development criteria, case study of Qazvin irrigation network

Choosing the right price for agricultural water and investigating the effects of economic, social, and environmental interpretations as one of the essential economic tools in the agricultural sector to manage water demand in the current situation in the country. For this purpose, the present study has estimated the price of agricultural water and investigate its intermediate impact based on economic, social, and environmental indicators in the Irrigation-Network of Qazvin. First, the agricultural economy's existing conditions in the network range and by the economic model of mathematical planning were simulated by GAMS software, simulated and possible factors of farmers to elected price scenarios and their interaction effects. Finally, the degree of importance and ranking of the impact of economic, social, and environmental indicators by the TOPSIS process was used to achieve acceptable price and water labor in the irrigation network. The results showed that the maximum and minimum economic value of water in the irrigation network is related to rapeseed and alfalfa products, respectively, 3142 and 2177 IRR per cubic m. Also, the average economic value of water in this network was estimated at 2731 IRR per cubic meter. The results of water scenarios by the economic model showed that increasing irrigation water prices reduced the gross profit of crops in the irrigation network, as well as applying price scenarios, leads to increased unemployment in the study area. As a result, 2490 and 2731 were determined as two reasonable prices in the irrigation-network. Higher prices were selected as the best prices.