Monitoring and Accounting of Ecological Sustainability of Sistan's Oil Crop using Emergy and Economic Indicators

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Narges Pordel
• Mohammad Reza Asgharipour
• Esmaeel Seyedabadi

Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran

10.22067/agry.2022.79219.1126

Abstract

Introduction
The application of various inputs, such as pesticides and chemical fertilizers, has been one of the most significant factors negatively impacting the sustainability of agricultural systems. To accurately assess the value of agricultural ecosystem services, both the positive and negative aspects of agricultural systems must be taken into account. In the past three decades, the emergy analysis has been developed for assessing environmental policies and resource quality based on the dynamics of complex environmental and economic systems. Emergy analysis can be used to evaluate the sustainability of agriculture. By definition, emergy is the amount of direct or indirect solar energy required to produce a good or service. By converting all forms of energy, resources, and services into a single unit, the solar emjoule (sej), emergy analysis can assess the interdependence of economic, social, and environmental factors. The production of three important oil crops of Sistan, including rapeseed, safflower, and sesame, was investigated using emergy and economic analysis techniques to evaluate the ecological health and productivity of the use of inputs in the production of oil crops in Sistan.
Materials and Methods
This research was conducted at the level of Sistan's oil plant production systems in the Northern provinces of Sistan and Baluchistan. This research used questionnaires and face-to-face interviews with the owners of small ownership systems to determine the input consumption and performance of these systems. According to their service life, the annual input energy flow in the form of structural facilities, buildings, machinery, and materials used in the systems was calculated. The RUSLE model was used to assess water erosion. Inputs are divided into four categories to analyze production systems: renewable environmental resources (R), non-renewable environmental resources (N), purchased renewable resources (F_R), and purchased non-renewable resources (F_N). After calculating all input and output flows, the raw data for each of the production systems was multiplied by their unit emergy value in Joules, grams, or Rials, according to Iran's conditions. This study utilized transformity, the renewable emergy ratio (R%), the rmergy yield ratio (EYR), the rmergy investment ratio (EIR), the rnvironmental loading ratio (ELR), the emergy sustainability index (ESI), the emergy exchange ratio (EER), and the emergy index of product safety (EIPS).
Results and Discussion
The total supporting emergy for rapeseed, safflower, and sesame production systems was calculated to be 7.28E+16, 4.75E+16, and 3.55E+16 sej.ha^-1.yr^-1, respectively. In all three studied production systems, wind emergy was the largest source of free environmental input. In all three studied systems, environmental non-renewable inputs accounted for the largest portion of total emergy input, which was 83.42 percent for rapeseed, 80.11 percent for safflower, and 84.4 percent for sesame. The high proportion of nonrenewable inputs in this study for all three production systems demonstrated the vulnerability of Sistan's landscape cultivation systems as a result of the obvious lack of water, severe soil erosion, and contamination of agricultural lands. The total amount of purchased inputs for rapeseed, safflower, and sesame production systems was estimated to be 1.14E+16, 8.78E+15, and 5.40E+15 sej.ha^-1.yr^-1, respectively. Nitrogen and phosphorus chemical fertilizers comprised the largest proportion of purchased inputs in all three systems.
The transformity for rapeseed, safflower, and sesame production systems, respectively, was 3.88E+06, 3.76E+06, and 2.48E+06 sej.J^-1. The higher transformability of the rapeseed production system was due to the lower input utilization efficiency of this system compared to the safflower and sesame systems. The values of the saffron system's environmental sustainability indices (ESI and ESI*), renewable energy ratio (%R), environmental loading ratios (ELR and ELR*), and modified investment ratio (EIR*) indicate that this system is more sustainable. The lower health of rapeseed and sesame systems based on emergy indices was primarily due to the large proportion of input emergy related to organic matter losses and soil erosion, which are nonrenewable environmental resources. The economic analysis revealed that the sesame production system generated a higher profit-to-cost ratio and net profit than the safflower and rapeseed systems.
Conclusion
This study demonstrated that emphasizing practical solutions in the comprehensive management of production ecosystems, particularly through the protection of soil organic matter and the prevention of erosion, can significantly enhance their ecological health.
 







 




 

Keywords

• Economic analysis
• Environmental burden
• Environmental inputs
• Profitability analysis
• Rapeseed
• Renewable resources

Main Subjects

• Sustainable agriculture and food production systems

---

©2023 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source.

References

1. Ahmadi, M., & Aghaalikhani, M. (2012). Analysis of energy use in cotton cropping in Golestan province in order to represent a strategy for increase of resources productivity. Journal of Agroecology. 4, 151-158. (In Persian with English abstract).
2. Amiri, Z., Asgharipour, M.R., Campbell, D.E., & Armin, M. (2019). A sustainability analysis of two rapeseed farming ecosystems in Khorramabad, Iran based on emergy and economic analyses. Journal of Cleaner Production. 226: 1051–1066. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.091
3. Amiri, Z., Asgharipour, M.R., Campbell, D.E., Azizi, K., Kakolvand, E., & Moghadam, E.H. (2021). Conservation agriculture, a selective model based on emergy analysis for sustainable production of shallot as a medicinal-industrial plant. Journal of Cleaner Production. 292, 126000. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126000
4. Asgharipour, M.R., Amiri, Z., & Campbell, D.E. (2020). Evaluation of the sustainability of four greenhouse vegetable production ecosystems based on an analysis of emergy and social characteristics. Ecological Modelling. 424, 109021. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2020.109021
5. Asgharipour, M.R., Shahgholi, H., Campbell, D.E., Khamari, I., & Ghadiri, A. (2019). Comparison of the sustainability of bean production systems based on emergy and economic analyses. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 191(2), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-018-7123-3
6. Azizi, K. Campbell, D.E., Amiri, Z., Asgharipour, M.R., & Kakalvand, A. (2021). Comparison of the sustainability of agricultural system and natural environment of shallot production in Al-Shatar city, Lorestan province based on emergy analysis. Agricultural Knowledge and Sustainable Production 31(4), 303-323. (In Persian with English abstract)
7. Brandt-Williams, S.L. (2002). Emergy of Florida Agriculture. 2^nd Edition, USA: Florida, University of Florida, Center for Environmental Policy, Environmental Engineering Science, Gainesville, 38 p.
8. Brown, M.T., & Ulgiati, S. (1997). Emergy-based indices and ratios to evaluate sustainability: monitoring economies and technology toward environmentally sound innovation. Ecological Engineering 9, 51–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0925-8574(97)00033-5
9. Brown, M.T., & Ulgiati, S. (2004). Energy quality, emergy, and transformity: H.T. Odum’s contributions to quantifying and understanding systems. Ecological Modelling. 178, 201–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2004.03.002
10. Brown, M.T., & Ulgiati, S. (2005). Emergy, transformity and ecosystem health. Handbook of Ecological Indicators for Assessment of Ecosystem Health, 333: 346.
11. Campbell, D.E. (1998). Emergy analysis of human carrying capacity and regional sustainability: An example using the state of Maine. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 51, 531-569. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006043721115
12. Campbell, D.E., Brandt-Williams, S.L., & Meisch, M.E.A. (2005). Environmental Accounting Using Emergy, Evaluation of the State of West Virginia. First Edition, USA: Washington, Office of Research and Development, 116 p.
13. Cavalett, O., Queiroz, J.F., & Ortega, E. (2006). Emergy assessment of integrated production systems of grains, pig and fish in small farms in the South Brazil. Ecological Modelling. 193, 205–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2005.07.023
14. Chen, G.Q., Jiang, M.M., Chen, B., Yang, Z.F., & Lin, C. (2006). Emergy analysis of Chinese agriculture. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. 115, 161–173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2006.01.005
15. Chen, S., & Chen, B. (2012). Sustainability and future alternatives of biogas-linked agroecosystem (BLAS) in China: A emergy synthesis. Renewable and Sustanable Energy Reviews. 16, 3948-3959. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2012.03.040
16. Cheng, H., Chen, C., Wu, S., Mirza, Z.A., & Liu, Z. (2017). Emergy evaluation of cropping, poultry rearing, and fish raising systems in the drawdown zone of three gorges reservoir of china. Journal of Cleaner Production. 144, 559-571. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.12.053
17. Dale, V.H., & Polasky, S. (2007). Measures of the effects of agricultural practices on ecosystem services. Ecological Economics. 64, 286-296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2007.05.009
18. Danesh-Shahraki, A., Kashani, A., Mesgarbashi, M., Nabipour, M., & Kouhi-Dehkordi, A. (2008). The effect of plant densities and time of nitrogen application on some agronomic characteristic of rapeseed. Appl. Field Crops Research. 79, 10-17 (In Persian with English abstract).
19. Fallahinejad, S., & Armin, M. (2022). Role of mechanization on the sustainability of sugar beet production using emergy approach. Agriculture, Environment & Society. 2, 15-24. https://doi.org/10.22034/aes.2022.327793.1019
20. Fan, J., Mc Conkey, B.G., Janzen, H.H., & Miller, P.R. (2018). Emergy and energy analysis as an integrative indicator of sustainability: A case study in semi-arid Canadian farmlands. Journal of Cleaner Production. 172, 428-437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.10.200
21. Fei, R., & Lin, B. (2017). Estimates of energy demand and energy saving potential in china's agricultural sector. 135, 865-875. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.06.173
22. Feng, J.Y., Lu, S.Z., Fu, Z.T., & Tian, D. (2013). Emergy analysis of protected grape production system in China. Pages 3938-3942 in Advanced Materials Research. Trans Tech Publ.
23. Fetros, F. (1998). Productivity in the orbit of sustainable development. Scientific-Research Agricultural Economics and Development. 9, 2-89. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJISD.2014.066656
24. Ghaley, B.B., Kehli, N., & Mentler, A. (2018). Emergy synthesis of conventional fodder maize (Zea mays) production in Denmark. Ecological Indicators. 87, 144-151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.12.027
25. Gheicari, G., Asgharipour, M. R., Mousavi Nik, M., & Ghanbari, A. (2021). Effects of different cotton tillage methods on N2O and NH3 emissions in a cotton-wheat rotation. Agriculture, Environment & Society. 1(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.22034/aes.2021.144106
26. Giannetti, B.F., Ogura, Y., Bonilla, S.H., & Almeida, C.M.V.B. (2011). Emergy assessment of a coffee farm in Brazilian Cerrado considering in a broad form the environmental services, negative externalities and fair price. Agricultural Systems. 104, 679-688. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2011.08.001
27. Hashemi Bani, O., Salehi, M.H., & Beigi Harchegani, H. (2009). Estimation of soil organic matter by ignition in four important plains of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province. Agricultural Science and Technology and Natural Resources. Soil and Water Sciences. 13(50), 77-89. (In Persian with English abstract) https://doi.org/22067/agry.2021.69477.1032
28. Houshyar, E., Wu, X., & Chen, G. (2018). Sustainability of wheat and maize production in the warm climate of southwestern Iran: an emergy analysis. Journal of Cleaner Production. 172, 2246-2255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.11.187
29. Hu, S., Mo, X.G., Lin, Z.H., & Qiu, J.X. (2010). Emergy assessment of a wheat-maize rotation system with different water assignments in the North China Plain. Journal of Environmental Management. 46, 643–657. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-010-9543-x
30. Jafari, M., Asgharipour, M.R., Ramroudi, M., Galavi, M., & Hadarbadi, Gh. (2018). Sustainability assessment of date and pistachio agricultural systems using energy, emergy and economic approaches. Journal of Cleaner Production. 193, 642-651. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.05.089
31. Kohkan, S.A., Ghanbari, A., Asgharipour, M.R., & Fakheri, B.A. (2017). Emergy evaluation of Yaghuti grape of Koocheki, A.R., Nasiri Mahalati, M., Amin Ghafouri, A., Mahluji Rad, M., & Falahpour, F. (2016). Economic value of ecosystem services for wheat production in Razavi Khorasan province. Journal of Agricultural Ecology. 8(4), 612-627.
32. Kouchaki, A. (1997). Sustainable agriculture vision or method? Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development. 20, 53-72.
33. La Rosa, A., Siracusa, G., & Cavallaro, R. (2008). Emergy evaluation of Sicilian red orange production. Acomparison between organic and conventional farming. Journal of Cleaner Production. 16, 1907-1914. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.01.003
34. Lan, S.F., Qin, P., & Lu, H.F. (2002). Emergy assessment of ecological systems (Vol. 75 and 76, pp. 406–412). Beijing: Chemical industry press.
35. Lefroy, E., & Rydberg, T. (2003). Emergy evaluation of three cropping systems in southwestern Australia. Ecological Modelling. 161, 195-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3800(02)00341-1
36. Lu, H.F. Bai, Y., Ren, H., & Campbell, D.E. (2018). Bamboo vs. crops: an integrated emergy and economic evaluation of using bamboo to replace crops in south Sichuan province, China. Journal of Cleaner Production. 177, 464–473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.12.193
37. Lu, H.F., Bai, Y., Ren, H., & Campbell, D.E. (2009). Emergy and economic evaluations of four fruit production systems on reclaimed wetlands surrounding the Pearl River Estuary, China. Ecological Engineering. 35, 1743–1757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2009.08.001
38. Lu, H.F., Bai, Y., Ren, H., & Campbell, D.E. (2010). Integrated emergy, energy and economic evaluation of rice and vegetable production systems in alluvial paddy fields: Implications for agricultural policy in China. Journal of Environmental Management. 91, 2727–2735. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.07.025
39. Ministry of Power. (2011). Energy balance sheet 2010. Vice President of Electricity and Energy Affairs, Electricity and Energy Macro Planning Office, Ministry of Energy, Islamic Republic of Iran.
40. Miri, A., Pahlevanravi, A., & Moghadamnia, A.R. (2009). Investigation of dust storm in Sistan region after periodic droughts. Pasture and Desert Research. 16(3), 329-342. (In Persian with English abstract)
41. Mohammadi, S., Karimzadeh, H., & Alizadeh, M. (2018). Spatial estimation of soil erosion in Iran using RUSLE model. Iranian Journal of Ecohydrology. 5(2), 551-569. (In Persian with English abstract).
42. Nazarian, S.M., Zibaee, M., & Sheikh Zainuddin, A. (2020). Assessing the sustainability of agricultural systems using the consensual planning approach: Kohdasht region of Lorestan. Agricultural Economics and Development. 34, 239-257.
43. Negaresh, H., & Khosravi, M. (2000). Investigation of the agricultural climate of Sistan and Baluchestan province. Sistan and Baluchistan University Research Assistant. Zahedan.
44. Odum, H.T. (1983). Systems Ecology. Wiley, New York, pp. 644.
45. Odum, H.T. (1988). Self-Organization, Transformity, and Information. Science, 242, 1132-1139.
46. Odum, H.T. (1996). Environmental Accounting, EMERGY and Decision Making. John Wiley, New York, 370 pp.
47. Odum, HT. (2000). Handbook of Emergy Evaluation. A Compendium of Data for Emergy Computation. Folio #2 Emergy global processes. Center of Environmental Policy, University of Florida, Gainesville.
48. Ortega, E., Anami, M., & Diniz, G. (2002). Certification of food products using emergy analysis, in: Proceedings of III International Workshop Advances in Energy Studies, pp. 227–237.
49. Patterson, M., McDonald, G., & Hardy, D. (2017). Is there more in common than we think? Convergence of ecological footprinting, emergy analysis, life cycle assessment and other methods of environmental accounting. Ecological Modelling. 362, 19-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2017.07.022
50. Pretty, J.N., Brett, C., Gee, D., Hine, R.E., Mason, C.F., Morison, J.I.L., Raven, H., Rayment, M.D., & Vander Bijl, G. (2000). An assessment of the total external costs of UK agriculture. Agricultural Systems. 65, 113-136. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0308-521X(00)00031-7
51. Quintero-Angel, M., & Gonzalez-Acevedo, A. (2018). Tendencies and challenges for the assessment of agricultural sustainability. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. 254, 273–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2017.11.030
52. Salimipour, S.A., & Naqshbandi, Y., 2014. Emergy: concept, need and applications. New Technologies in New Systems. 4(1), 48-56.
53. Seyedan, M. (2003). Productivity analysis and determining the optimal amount of potato production factors in Hamadan city. Iranian Journal of Agricultural Sciences. 34(4), 1003-1010.
54. Shah Hosseini, H.R., Ramrodi, M., & Kazemi, H. (2021). Economic analysis and evaluation of the sustainability of potato production based on greenhouse gas emissions (Case study: The province of Golestan). Agricultural Knowledge and Sustainable Production. 31(3), 295-311.
55. Shah Hoseini, H.R., & Kazemi, H. (2022). Evaluation of sustainability of rainfed rapeseed production in Gorgan County using Emergy analysis. Journal of Emergy, Life Cycle and System Analysis in Agriculture. 2(1), 61-70. https://doi.org/10.22034/aes.2022.337172.1031
56. Shariati, Sh., & Ghazi Shahnizadeh, P. (2000). Rapeseed, vice-president of training and equipping manpower. Publications of the Agricultural Education Publishing Center. 40.
57. Su, Y., He, Sh., Wang, K., Shahtahmassebi, A.R., Zhang, L., Zhang, J., Zhang, M., & Gan, M. (2020). Quantifying the sustainability of three types of agricultural production in China: An emergy analysis with the integration of environmental pollution. Journal of Cleaner Production. 252, 119650. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119650
58. Syswerda, S.P. (2009). Ecosystem services from agriculture across a management intensity gradient in Southwest Michigan. Ph.D. D, Michigan State University.
59. Ulgiati, S., & Brown, M.T. (1998). Monitoring patterns of sustainability in natural and man-made ecosystems. Ecological Modelling. 108, 23–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3800(98)00016-7
60. Ulgiati, S., Odum, H., & Bastianoni, S. (1994). Emergy use, environmental loading and sustainability an emergy analysis of Italy. Ecological Modelling. 73, 215–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3800(94)90064-7
61. Vahedi, M., Hosseini, S.M., Farajolahhosseini, S.J., & Mirdamadi, M. (2009). Investigating viewpoints of Nazarabad county farmers about subjective indices of sustainable agriculture in the farm household level. Journal of Agricultural Economics and Development Research. 40(2), 123-133.
62. Vassallo, P., Riley, S., Beiso, I., Ridolfi, R., & Fabiano, M. (2007). Emergy analysis for the environmental sustainability of an inshore fish farming system. Ecological Indicators. 7(2), 290–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2006.02.003
63. Wang, X., Bai, Y., Ren, H., & Campbell, D.E. (2014). Emergy analysis of grain production systems on large-scale farms in the North China Plain based on LCA. Agricultural Systems. 128, 66-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2014.03.005
64. Xi, G., & Qin, P. (2009). Emergy evaluation of organic rice-duck mutualism system. Ecological Engineering 35(11):1677-1683. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2007.11.006.
65. Xueping, H., & Qian, L. (2007). Assessment of the agricultural sustainability of Shaanxi province China. Journal of Ecological Economy. 3, 60-66.
66. Yamane, T. (1967). Elementary Sampling Theory. Englewood CliKs. Prentice-Hall, NJ, USA.
67. Yasini, H., Ghanbari, A., Asgharipour, M.R., & Seyed Abadi, M. (2020). Assessing the sustainability of garlic, onion and wheat production systems in Sistan with integrated emergy and economic analysis. Journal of Agricultural Sciences and Sustainable Production. 30, 269-288.
68. Yousefi, M., & Mahdavi Damghani, A. (2013). Investigation of water use efficiency and energy in irrigated systems in Kermanshah province. Journal of Agroecology. 5, 113-121. (In Persian with English abstract)
69. Zhai, X., Huang, D., Tang, S., Li, S., Guo, J., Yang, Y., Liu, H., Li, J., & Wang, K. (2017). The emergy of metabolism in different ecosystems under the same environmental conditions in the agro-pastoral ecotone of northern China. Ecological Indicators. 74, 198-204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.11.028
70. Zhang, D.Y., Ling, F.L., Zhang, L.F., Yang, S.Q., Liu, X.T., & Gao, W.S. (2005). Emergy analysis of planting system at Gongzhuling county in the main grain production region in Northeast China Plain. Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering. 21(6): 12–17. (In Chinese with English abstract)
71. Zhang, L.X., Song, B., & Chen, B. (2012). Emergy-based analysis of four farming systems: insight into agricultural diversification in rural China. Journal of Cleaner Production. 28, 33-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2011.10.042
72. Zhang, Q., Yue, D., Fang, M., Yu, Q., Huang, Y., Su, K., Ma, H., & Wang, Y. (2018). Study on sustainability of land resources in dengkou county based on emergy analysis. Journal of Cleaner Production. 171, 580-591. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.09.275
73. Zia Tavana, M.H. (1992). Features of the natural environment of Sistan pit. Geographical essays of Dr. Mohammad Hasan Ganji's celebration letter. Tehran. Publications of Gitaology.