Evaluation of Sustainability of Irrigated Crops in Arid Regions, China

Fan Fan, Bei Li, Weifeng Zhang, John R. Porter and Fusuo Zhang
Additional contact information
Fan Fan: College of Resource & Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Bei Li: College of Resource & Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Weifeng Zhang: College of Resource & Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
John R. Porter: Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, 1870 Frederiskberg, Denmark
Fusuo Zhang: College of Resource & Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Ensuring national food security amidst ongoing economic development whilst both protecting the environment and reducing the dependence on fossil fuels are significant challenges for Chinese sustainable development. The main objectives of this study were to reveal irrigated crop (wheat, maize, and sunflower) performance in terms of energy, economic, and environmental aspects in China’s largest designed irrigation area, Hetao irrigation district (HID), and to evaluate agricultural suitability based on plant structure. An integrated indicator and comprehensively assessment method were used to evaluate the above objectives based on the results from in-person surveys. The results show that maize exhibits the best overall performance compared to two other major crops (wheat and sunflower), which supports the government policy of adjust and optimize the planting structure program (AOPST), an effective way to achieve the multiple-objectives for sustainable agricultural development. However, reducing fertilizer remains a more critical factor than AOPST. These study results provide useful guidance for policy-makers and relevant stake-holders both in a regional context for the HID and at the global agricultural governance and management level.

Keywords: net profit; energy use efficiency; environmental degradation; comprehensive assessment; agricultural sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/1/342/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/1/342/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:1:p:342-:d:473682

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().