Determination of the Economic Value of the Irrigation Water Using Goal Programming Approach (Case Study of Shirvan Barzo Dam)

Water shortage for agricultural crops and other consumptions is an important problem in arid and semi-arid areas. In such places, economic and population growth and the rising standards of life create situations where fresh water is economically scarce, thus posing barriers to investments in developing alternative sources. Water has economic value only when its supply is scarce compared to its demand. Scarce water takes on economic value because many users compete for its use. This paper develops a goal programming model for the determination of optimum cropping pattern and economic value of water in three regions. The objective function of the model is the minimization of deviation from the goals. In this paper we consider five goals and then economic value or shadow price of water will be obtained with sensitivity analysis of constraints. This model has been solved by Lindo package under 2002-2003 agricultural data to Shirvan Barzo Dam region in Shirvan which is located in the north of Khorasan province. The results of this paper show that the estimation of the economic value of water ranges between 56 and 2227 and Rials.