Water usage cost for broccoli using fertirrigationt echnologyw ith the trickle irrigation system

Abstract

Overexploitation of underground water for agricultural use has had a negative effect not only on the profitability of basic crops in the country but also on the profitability of horticultural crops, and is the fundamental cause of the ever higher abatement of water tables. This situation becomes more acute in the State of Guanajuato, where the levels of overexploitation are critical. A possible alternative is the use of fertirrigation technology with trickle irrigation (FERTRG), since this allows us, among other things, to save water and increase yield. However the cost for its implementation is very high. Such cost is reflected in the cost of water use through the cost of equipment and infrastructure use and the cost of electricity consumption. Faced with this situation, the main objective of this work was to estimate the cost of water usage, at financial and economic prices, in broccoli crops (Brassica oleracea var: ltalica) using FERTRG with the methodology designed by Monke and Pearson (1989) and with the algorithm developed by Matus and Puente (1992). The results show a total cost of water usage with FERTRG at financial and economic prices, of $3, 745/ha ($0.953/m3) and $4,357/ha ($1.109/m3), thus obtaining a positive net effect of policy of $612/ha($0.156/m3), product of the subsidy to the electricity rates, the subsidy in the purchase of FERTRG equipment, and the implicit tax to the interest rate. In both cases, the cost for usage of the equipment was higher than the cost for electricity consumption.