Economic assessment at farm level of the implementation of deficit irrigation for quinoa production in the Southern Bolivian Altiplano

Abstract

In the Southern Bolivian Altiplano recent research has suggested to introduce deficit irrigation as a strategy to boost quinoa yields and to stabilize it at 2.0 ton ha-1. In this study we carried out an economic assessment of the implementation of deficit irrigation at farm level using a hydro-economic model for simulating profit for quinoa production. As input of the model we worked with previously developed farms typology (livestock, quinoa and subsistence farms), simulated quinoa production with and without irrigation using AquaCrop model, and calculated yield response functions for four different climate scenarios (wet, normal, dry and very dry years). Results from the hydro-economic model demonstrate that maximum profit is achieved with less applied irrigated water than for maximum yield, and irrigated quinoa earned more profit than rainfed production for all farms types and climate scenarios. As expected, the benefits of irrigation under dry and very dry climate conditions were higher than those under normal and wet years, and benefits among farms types were higher for quinoa farms. In fact, profit of irrigated quinoa might be stabilized at around BOB 6500 ha-1 (about USD 920) compared with the huge differences found for rainfed conditions for all climate scenarios. Interestingly, the economic water productivity, expressed in terms of economic return for amount of applied irrigated water (BOB mm-1), reached the highest values with intermediate and low level of water availability schemes of deficit irrigation for all climate scenarios.

Innovations in Health Value and Functional Food Development of Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.)

“…Due to quinoa's water use efficiency, halophytic properties, and wide genetic diversity, the crop can survive in an extreme range of temperatures (−4 to 38 °C), frost, low rainfall (as little as 50 mm/y), nutrient‐poor soils with pH ranging from 6.0 to 8.5, and high salinity (40 mS/cm) (Hellin and Higman ; Valencia‐Chamorro ; Bhargava and others ; Hariadi and others ; Vega‐Galvez and others ; FAO ). In fact, the largest global production region of quinoa is the Salar de Uyuni (salt flats of Oruro and Potosí provinces in Bolivia), where quinoa is the only crop capable of withstanding the extreme environmental conditions (Cusack ; FAO ; Cusicanqui and others ).…”

Simulation of crop production in weed-infested fields for data-scarce regions

“…An example was set by Dunan et al (1994Dunan et al ( , 1999, who optimized weed management based on both agronomic and economic aspects. Moreover, the linkage of AquaCrop to economic models has been demonstrated by García-Vila et al (2009), García-Vila & Fereres (2012) and Cusicanqui et al (2013).…”

A semi-quantitative approach for modelling crop response to soil fertility: evaluation of the AquaCrop procedure

“…Finally, it is clear that after analysing the agronomic benefits of different field management strategies using AquaCrop, a socio-economic analysis is indispensable. Following the examples of García-Vila et al (2009), García-Vila & Fereres (2012) and Cusicanqui et al (2013), who optimized irrigation management both from an agronomic and an economic point of view, it is clear that AquaCrop simulation results can be coupled to economic models so as to analyse the effect of the soil fertility management strategies on labour requirements and farmers’ profits.…”