Survey of Virtual Water Trade and its Impact on Water Productivity in the Shoshtar MianAb irrigation and Drainage Network

Abstract

<strong>Water is the first and foremost limiting factor for agricultural production, and undoubtedly, water crisis is considered as one of the international challenges for governments and human societies. Given that virtual water was first used as a way to tackle water scarcity in countries with limited water resources, so that countries with low water should import food from abundant countries to save on limited resources. Therefore, virtual water can nevertheless be used in low water countries such as Iran, so that it can be considered as a way to reduce pressure on water resources. Therefore, considering the above mentioned issues, considering virtual water as a way to manage water consumption in critical depressions may be necessary. The purpose of this study is to calculate the virtual water consumption of agricultural products. After identification of the virtual water and its estimation, export, import and net exports of virtual water exchange, productivity, intensity of water consumption in the region and dependence or self-sufficiency of the region to Water requirements have been investigated. The products studied in this study were vegetables containing cucumber and tomatoes, which required information from 2012 to 2017. The results showed that vegetable products are low-energy products with high water productivity and virtual water exports are higher than virtual water imports and the net flow of water for the exchange of water is -7838.32 cubic meters per hectare. Also, the intensity of water dependency in the research area is increasing during the growing season and is generally self-sufficient in terms of supplying the water needed for agricultural production (cucumber and tomato).</strong>