 Economic efficiency of drip and flood irrigation. Comparative analysis at farm scale using DEAMarta García-Mollá, Rosa Puertas Medina, Virgina Vega-Carrero and Carles Sanchis-Ibor Agricultural Water Management, 2025, vol. 309, issue C Abstract: In recent decades, there has been a massive replacement of flood irrigation with drip irrigation throughout the world. Numerous studies have been published on the efficiency of these techniques in terms of water savings, but few works have paid attention to their economic efficiency at farm scale. In this research, a two-stage methodology has been used for this purpose, developed in three irrigated areas of the region of Valencia (Eastern Spain). In the first stage, interviews were conducted with experts from irrigation communities and cooperatives, and in the second stage, an efficiency analysis was carried out using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). It is concluded that, although the cultivation costs of drip irrigation are lower and the technology gap (TGRK) is smaller than flood irrigation, there is much room for improvement. Policies to promote the installation of localised irrigation should include complementary measures to ensure the viability of modernised farms. Keywords: Data envelopment analysis; Water efficiency; Drip irrigation; Flood irrigation (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:309:y:2025:i:c:s0378377425000289 DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2025.109314 Access Statistics for this article Agricultural Water Management is currently edited by B.E. Clothier, W. Dierickx, J. Oster and D. Wichelns More articles in Agricultural Water Management from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.