Monitoring of Ecological Health of Yaghooti Grape Production Systems in Sistan Region Using Emergy Analysis Technique

Yaghooti grape producing methods are very important in Sistan economy and jobs. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the health and monitor the effects of input consumption in the production of Yaghooti grapes with the aim of identifying inputs with the most environmental damage, as well as quantifying sustainability and providing solutions to improve input efficiency in Yaghooti grape production in Sistan region using emergy analysis technique.

Methods & Materials: 

This study was conducted utilizing data collected from the level of smallholder systems of 180 grape production systems in five cities of Sistan region comprising Zabol, Zahak, Hamoun, Hirmand and Nimroz, Iran in 2019. For this study, renewable and non-renewable inputs received from environmental resources and economic inputs were investigated.

The total emergy support of grape production systems was estimated to be 1.92E+16 sej/ha/yr, of which free environmental inputs accounted for 64.31 percent of this amount. The transformity and specific energy for grape production were 2.49E+05 sej/J and 4.75E+09 sej/g. Environmental pressure due to grape production (ELR) was 5.311 and the value of sustainability indices (ESI & ESI*) was calculated 0.528 and 0.637, which indicates the low sustainability of grape production in Sistan.

The significant percentage of free inputs implies that the majority of study vineyards are non-industrial systems that are managed in a semi-traditional, low-input manner.