DIRECT AND INDIRECT ENERGY COEFFICIENT FOR IRRIGATED WHEAT PRODUCTION

Though it is assumed oil comes cheap in Iran, peculiarly in agricultural domain, it is erroneous as not only Iran subsidizes billions of dollars for the imported diesel fuel each year, specially for agricultural use, but studies on energy consumption showing the country progress in mechanization helps us find this sector shortcomings and problems. In the near future, it is pointed out by WTO that there should be cheap production as much as possible in order to sustain agriculture, which is only possible by knowing the ways and means for reducing energy consumption.MATERIALS AND METHODS: in this research. the data was gathered by questioning 150 farmers and contractors in an agricultural city near Tehran, Saveh, as this area is a transparent illustration for the problems that may occur in the future; though, it may not be an appropriate representative of the arable lands in the country. Moreover, the data for four different farm sizes, A<2, 2≤A≤10, 15≤A<50 and A≥50 hectares, was collected and analyzed for measuring direct and indirect energy coefficients of planting, fertilizing and irrigation for irrigated wheat in Saveh. Then, energy coefficients were calculated by comparing the reference information, and then, this was compared with the experimental.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The results were in consistent with the calculated values as well as international sources. Moreover, it is revealed the materials used in Iran for seeding are four times higher than the calculated values for seeding, and energy consumption for fertilizing was 2.4 times higher than the calculated energy for fertilizing. In addition, it was revealed the customary surface irrigation efficiency was 63%.

کلیدواژه ها:

energy coefficient ، planting energy ، fertilizing energy ، irrigation energy ، irrigated wheat