Water–Energy–Land Reallocation and Multiobjective Optimization in the Agricultural System

Jue Wang (), Keyi Ju () and Xiaozhuo Wei ()
Additional contact information
Jue Wang: Wuxi Institute of Technology
Keyi Ju: Jiangsu University of Science and Technology
Xiaozhuo Wei: Jiangsu University of Science and Technology

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2024, vol. 38, issue 14, No 20, 5783-5806

Abstract: Abstract Food is important for long-term national peace and stability. Land, water, and energy are essential resources that support food production. Conflicts among economic, social, and environmental objectives are inevitable in agricultural systems. On the basis of the concept of the water‒energy‒food (WEF) nexus, this study presents an interval multiobjective nonlinear optimization model to balance the conflicts of agricultural systems. This optimization model is then applied to Jiangsu Province to verify its applicability. Using the model, the optimal allocation of land, water, and energy and the corresponding system benefits under ten scenarios are obtained. The results show that wheat has the largest planting area when the decision is biased toward economic objectives. Planting more rice can improve the environment, and planting less rice can strengthen social fairness. The water and energy allocated to crops gradually decrease as decision-making preferences shift from the economy to society and the environment. The results also indicate that the comprehensive scores under scenario S4 (society → environment → economy) reached the ideal state among the seven multiobjective scenarios. Compared with the control year (2020), the optimal total land allocation in scenario S4 is reduced by 17.49%-17.84% to ensure food security. Notably, economic profits decrease by 6.68%-38.6%, social fairness significantly improves by 45.39%–55.62%, and total carbon emissions decrease by 8.88%–25.78%. This study can help decision-makers obtain a management scheme for maximizing comprehensive interests in the agricultural WEF nexus system.

Keywords: Water-energy-food nexus; Optimization model; Agricultural system; Resource allocation; System benefits (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11269-024-03934-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:spr:waterr:v:38:y:2024:i:14:d:10.1007_s11269-024-03934-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11269

DOI: 10.1007/s11269-024-03934-5

Access Statistics for this article

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) is currently edited by G. Tsakiris

More articles in Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) from Springer, European Water Resources Association (EWRA)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().