Using Geographic Information Systems to Produce Maps of The Water Cost of Olives in Jordan for The 2020-2019 Water Year PDF

Keywords

Evaporation-Transpiration, Water Requirement, Virtual Water, Net Crop Water Demand, Specific Water Demand, Geographic Information Systems.

Abstract

The study aims to employ geographic information systems to produce maps of the water cost of the olive harvest in Jordan for the water year 2019-2020 through the concepts of water consumption: (Reference Evapotranspiration, Crop Evapotranspiration, Water Requirement, virtual water, net water consumption, actual water demand. Virtual water trade) by following the FAO56 method, based on the climatic data of a group of climatic stations distributed throughout the Kingdom and the yield and productivity factors, by using the cartographic criteria necessary to produce digital maps to express the true reality of water consumption of the olive crop. The Reference Evapotranspiration accumulation rate was estimated at 1688 mm, and the values ranged between (lowest value 1129 mm and highest value 2222) mm. The average water requirements for each dunum of olive cultivated was estimated 923 m3 of water, and the values ranged between (the lowest value 621 and the highest value 1227) m3 / dunum. The net Crop Water Demand of the area (569.5 thousand donums) planted with olives was estimated at 525.649 m3 of water. The Virtual water rate for olive productivity (0.22 tons / dunum) was estimated at 4194 m3 / ton, and the values ranged between (the lowest value 2821 and the highest value 5576) m3 / ton. The Specific Water Demand was estimated as follows: (for the production of olives (125150 tons) with 524.879 m m3 of water, for the production of preserved olives (24691 tons) with 103.554 m m3 for the production of olive oil (20706 tons) for 86.841 m m3 of water). The Virtual water trade was estimated as follows: (for olive exports (1585 tons / year) amount to 6.647 m m3/ year of water, for Preserved olives exports (5442 tons / year) amount to 22,824 mm3 / year for water, for olive oil exports (575 tons / year) with 2.412 mm3 / year water. The study recommends the necessity of adopting the concept of virtual water as a wise tool for determining the water cost in irrigated agriculture, and using geographic information systems in producing crop water cost maps.