Energy, economic and GHG emissions analysis of potato production
Journal Title: Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences (JBES) - Year 2015, Vol 6, Issue 2
Abstract
Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) are among the foremost vital international food crops. In this study crosssectional data were collected from potato growers by employing a face to face survey in East-Azerbaijan Province of Iran. The data collected was analyzed for the energy, GHG emissions and economics of potato production. According to the results, total average energy inputs consumption and GHG emissions were 131608.14 MJ ha-1 and 4542 kg CO2eq.ha-1, respectively. Electricity, chemical fertilizers and diesel fuel were the most influential factors in energy consumption with quantity of 46.3, 34.7 and 24.6 GJ ha-1. Energy use efficiency, net energy and energy intensiveness were 0.97, -4292 MJ ha-1 and 21.73 MJ $-1, respectively. Among the energy inputs, the contribution of DE was more than that of IDE energy and also the proportion of NRE was more than RE resources. Electricity with a share of 52% played the most important role on GHG emissions, followed by diesel fuel (31%) and chemical fertilizer (12%). The results of economic analysis showed that the benefit to cost ratio was 1.1 and the economic productivity was 5.84 kg $-1. Economic analysis showed that the potato production could be a profitable business in East-Azerbaijan Province. Encouraging farm energy consumers to use less electricity is indispensable for sustainable use of energy and a key element of GHGs emission reduction.
Authors and Affiliations
Amir Abbas Bakhtiari, Amir Hematian, Mohsen Moradipour
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