Estimation of Fuel and Energy Consumption and Indicators of Cotton Production in Golestan Province (Iran)

Document Type : Scientific - Research

Authors

• Reza Arefi ¹
• Afshin Soltani ²
• Hossein Ajam Norozei ¹

¹ Department of Agriculture, Islamic Azad University, Gorgan Branch, Gorgan, Iran

² Faculty of Crop Production, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Iran

10.22067/jag.v10i3.62349

Abstract

Introduction
Energy is of particular important in agricultural inputs due to the increasing rate of consumption, fossil fuels adverse impacts on the environment and limited sources. Due to the growing demand of energy, increasing world population, increasing food consumption per capita and improvement of life quality, the energy, the way it consumes and increasing its efficiency and optimization are very important. Moayedi et al (1388) indicated that the highest energy consumption of the first year of saffron cultivation was related to manure application with a 16.91% of the total energy consumption and in the second to fifth to urea fertilizer with a 67/37% of the total energy consumption. Similarly, energy production to consumption ratio over a period of five years of saffron cultivation was estimated to be 41/0. Ahamadi & Aghaalikhani, (2013) reviewed the energy consumption of cotton in the Golestan province. They considered the share of energy use in cotton in Golestan province, the share of energy consumption in tractor fuel inputs and fuel pump to be 24%, 30% respectively, and 54% of the energy was related to diesel fuel. Fertilizers had 24% and chemicals had 13% of energy consumption, and the total energy input for the production of cotton in Alborz Province was announced to be 31 GJ per hectare. Considering the energy crisis in the world, exploring the demand and consumption rate of energy and finding solutions to reduce the consumption is of researcher’s priority globally. Considering the privileged position of cotton production in the world and Golestan province of Iran, estimation of energy input and, efficiency are among the main research areas leading to fruitful solutions of optimizing energy consumption of the product.
Materials and Methods
A hundred of cotton fields around the Aliabad and AqQala cities in Golestan province were selected during two sowing years of 2014 and 2015. These farms were selected in such a way a number of farmers can be included. Important dates of different operations and events were observed during the growing seasons in selected fields. The data of typical production methods and cultivation practices were collected in last year including the use of equipment and fuel, application of fertilizers and pesticides and so on. Accordingly, all agricultural practices were divided into eight categories, including land preparation, planting, fertilizer application , plant protection, weed control, irrigation, harvesting and transportation to factory or crop delivery, primarily. Then, the different amounts of input use and more comprehensive information were collected and recorded at every single stage from planting to harvesting.
Results and Discussion
The results showed that the highest energy consumption was related to irrigation with 41% of the total energy and fertilizer application and land preparation were in the next positions. Labor force energy was calculated to be 2262 MJ.ha-1 related to harvesting, irrigation, cultivation, and crust-breaking. 61% of the total energy (10217 MJ.Ha-1) was used indirectly for the manufacturing, repair and maintenance of equipment and machinery, and production of seed, nitrogen fertilizer, phosphate fertilizer, potassium fertilizer, organic fertilizer, t insecticides, herbicides and industrial fungicides. Nitrogen fertilizer production consumed 30 percent of indirect energy sources, the highest share, while 39 percent of the total energy consumption was related to direct energy through the use of human resources and fuel consumption. Average power ratio of total farms was equal to 92.5. The results of levels of total energy input to fields showed that the minimum and maximum energy inputs were 15614 and 43321 MJ per hectare, respectively.
Conclusion
The results of this study showed that most of the direct energy (labor and fuel) consumption for cotton production is related to fuel with 86 % of the total energy mostly used in irrigation practices. Several factors such as soil texture, farm leveling, plant's feeding and protection, equipment and types of pumps, irrigation equipment maintenance in a timely manner, weather conditions, the amount of water available and most importantly short-term and long-term management are among areas which can reduce fuel and energy consumption of irrigation practices in the cotton production farms of Golestan province.

Keywords

• Cotton
• Fuel
• Input Energy
• output energy

20.1001.1.20087713.1397.10.3.17.9

---

References

Aggarwal, G.C. 1995. Fertilizer and irrigation management for energy conservation in crop production. Energy 20(8): 771-776.

Ahmadi, M., and Aghaalikhani, D. 2013. Analysis of Energy Consumption of Cotton in Golestan province in order to provide a solution for increasing resource efficiency. Journal of Agroecology. 4(2): 151-158. (In Persian with English abstract).

Akcaoz, H., Ozcatalbas, O., and Kizilay, H. 2009. Analysis of energy use for pomegranate production in Turkey. Journal food Agriculture Environment 7: 475-480.

Alam, M.S., Alam, M.R., and Islam, K.K. 2005. Energy flow in agriculture: Bangladesh. American. Journal of Environmental Sciences 1(3): 213-220.

Almasi, M. 2005. Energy management in agriculture. Masters textbook of agricultural mechanization. Azad University of Science and Research of Tehran, Iran. (In Persian with English abstract).

Anonymous. 2010. Statistic Agriculture. Crop Production. Office of Statistics and Information Technology, Ministry of Agriculture. Ministry of Jihad Agriculture, Tehran, Iran. (In Persian with English abstract).

Anonymous. 1980-1994. Final research report on cotton improvement projects. Cotton Research Institute (In Persian with English abstract).

Canakci, M., Topakci, M., Akinci, I., and Ozmerzi, A. 2005. Energy use pattern of some field crops and vegetable production: Case study for Antalya Region, Turkey. Energy Conversion and Management 46(4): 655-666.

Clements, D.R., Weise, S.F., Brown, R., Stonehouse, D.P., Hume, D.J., and Swanton, C.J. 2005. Energy analysis of tillage and herbicide inputs in alternative weed management-systems. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 52(2): 119-128.

Dagistan, E., Akcaoz, H., Demirtas, B., and Yilmaz, Y. 2009. Energy usage and benefit- cost analysis of cotton production in Turkey. African Journal of Agricaltural Research 4(7): 599-604.

Dehghanian, S., and Kocheki, A. 1996. Ecological economy and organic agriculture economy. Jihad Daneshgahi Publications of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran 164 (In Persian).

Fluck, R.C., and Baird, C.D. 1980. Agricultural energetics. AVI Publishing Co.

Hosier, R. 1985. How hold energy consumption in rural Kenya. Ambio 14(4-5): 225- 227.

Institute for International Energy Studies. 2007. Hydrocarbon balance sheet in Iran, Ministry of Petroleum.

Kaltsas, A.M., Mamolos, A.P., Tsatsarelis, C.A., Nanos, G.D., and Kalburtji, K.L. 2007. Energy budget in organic and conventional olive groves. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 122(2): 243-251.

Kizilaslan, N. 2009. Energy use and input-output energy analysis for apple production in Turkey. The Journal of Agricultural and Environmental 7(2): 419-423.

Koocheki, A., and Hosseini, M. 1994. Energy efficiency in agricultural ecosystems. University of Mashhad Publication 299. (In Persian).

Moayedi Shahraki, A.A., Jami Ahmadi, M., and Behdani, M.A. 2010. Performance evaluation of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) In: South Khorasan. Journal of Agroecology 2: 55-62. (In Persian with English abstract).

Ozkan, B., Akcaoz, H., and Fert, C. 2004. Energy input- output analysis in Turkish agriculture. Renewable Energy 29(1): 39-51.

Ozkan, B., Akcaoz, H., and Karadeniz, F. 2005. Energy requirement and economic analysis of citrus production in Turkey. Energy Conversion and Management 45(11): 1821-1830.

Panahi, F, H., and Kafi, M. 2012. Budget evaluation and energy efficiency in potato fields in Kurdistan, Case Study: Plain Dehgolan. Journal of Agroecology. 4(2): 159-169. (In Persian).

Panesar, B.S., and Fluck, R.C. 1993. Energy productivity of a production system-analysis and measurement. Agricultural Systems 43(4): 415-437.

Pimental, D., and Pimental, M, H. 2008. Food, energy and society. Taylor and Francis Group publisher 380.

Pishgar-Komleh, S.H., Sefeedpari, P., and Ghahderijani, M. 2012. Exploring energy consumption and CO2 emission of cotton production in Iran. Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy 4: 033115-033114.

Rajabi, M.H., Soltani, A., Vahidinia, B., Zeinali, E., and Soltani, E. 2011. Fuel consumption assessment on wheat production farms in Gorgan. Environmental Sciences 9(2). (In Persian with English abstract).

Rajabi, M.H., Soltani, A., Zeinali, E., and Soltani, E. 2012. Energy consumption assessment on wheat production in Gorgan. Journal of Plant Production 19(3). (In Persian with English abstract).

Schroll, H. 1994. Energy –flow and ecological sustainability in Danish agriculture. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 51(3):301-310.

Sing, H., Mishra, D., and Nahar, N, M. 2002. Energy use pattern in production agriculture of a typical village in arid zone, India_ part I. Energy Conversion and Management 43(16): 2275-2286.

Smith, C.W., and Cothren, J.T. 1991. Cotton; origin, history, technology and production. John Wiley & Sons 9.

Soltani, A., Rajabi, M. H., Zeinali, E., and Soltani, E. 2013. Energy inputs and greenhouse gases emissions in wheat production in Gorgan, Iran. Energy 50: 54-61. (In Persian with English abstract).

Strapatsa, A.V., Nanos, G.D., and Tsatsarelis, C.A. 2006. Energy flow for integrated apple production in Greece. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 116(3): 176-180.

Taheri-Rad, A.R., Nikkhah, A., Khojastehpour, M., and Nourozieh, S. 2014. Assessing GHG emissions, and energy and economic analysis of cotton production in the Golestan province. Journal of Agricultural Machinery 5(2): 428-445.

Tipi, T., Cetin, B., and Vardar, A. 2009. An analysis of energy use and input costs for wheat production in Turkey. The Journal of Agricultural and Environmental 7: 352-356.

Turhan, S., Canan Ozbag, B., and Rehber, E. 2008. A comparison of energy use in organic and conventional tomato production. The Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment 6(3-4): 318-321.

Tuti, D.M., Prakash, V., Pandey, B.M., Bhattacharyya, R., Mahanta, D., Bisht, J.K., Kumar, M., Mina, B.L., Kumar, N., Bhatt, J.C., and Srivastva, A.K. 2012. Energy budgeting of colocasia-based cropping systems in the Indian sub-Himalayas. Energy 45(1): 986-993.

Tzilivakis, J., Warner, D.J., May, M., Lewis, K.A., and Jaggard, K. 2005. An assessment of the energy inputs and greenhouse gas emissions in sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) production in the UK. Agricultural Systems 85(2): 101-119.

Witney, B. 1995. Choosing and using farm machines. Land Technology Ltd, UK.

Yilmaz, I., Akcaoz, H., and Ozkan, B. 2005. An analysis of energy use and input costs for cotton production in Turkey. Renewable Energy 30: 145-155.