Management of water consumption in agriculture - A model for the economic optimisation of water use: application to a sub-humid area

This paper present a set of solutions for new irrigation transformation in a sub-humid area such as Salvatierra (Alava, Spain). The research is based on the choice of crop rotation (cultivated species and its degree of partic ipation) being able to economically optimise the use of available water for irrigation. Hence, we will be able in helping make decisions to plan, from origin, the transformation of a dry area into an irrigated area. To do thi s, a model of economic use of water has been used in an area with climatic features very similar to a large part of Europe, representing an interestin g scenario compared to the places where the model had not been applied. Cro ps taking part in this rotation to optimise use of water are mainly vegetab les, with high water needs, that coexist together with crops for dryland fa rming even in conditions of lack of water. Crops for dryland farming allow an interesting diversification of activity as well as an average resource a ssignment to the farms that make possible to cultivate many farms at a time , which obviously implies socio-economic benefits for the achievements in t he zone. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.