Managing irrigation activities under water scarcity:The impact on farmers’ revenue and the sustainable use of the water resources

摘要

Irrigation is a key to develop the agricultural production in the dry areas.This paper examines how farmers using the groundwater could cope with water scarcity.The study is based on farmers located in Sidi Bouzid,a semi-arid region in Tunisia.The objective is to monitor the farming system of the irrigated farms using groundwater and to assess the impact of the groundwater depletion on the cropping system,water consumption and farmers' revenue.The farm model was developed using the positive linear programming approach in order to simulate the impacts of strategic adaptation of farmers facing the water scarcity.T?TThe results confirmed the importance of the groundwater depletion and the increase of the water salinity.? On average the land intensification rate had decreased by 27％for study period and the water consumption per hectare had also decreased by 11％.? The results of the simulations regarding the decrease of the water availability,the increase of the water price,and the increase of the land intensification showed that farmers have to adapt their cropping system accordingly.In each scenario their revenue may decrease substantially and their livelihoods may be threatened.