The enhancement of wheat yield in Tunisia becomes a must for policy makers who need to reduce the importations of this commodity. In this context, the ＂Food Security in Arab Countries＂ project has been established i...The enhancement of wheat yield in Tunisia becomes a must for policy makers who need to reduce the importations of this commodity. In this context, the ＂Food Security in Arab Countries＂ project has been established in order to transfer technological innovations that improve irrigated wheat productivity. As a pilot area, this project is being implemented in Chebika （Central Tunisia） region, where in the last two years a new technological package of durum wheat production has been tested by many farmers of the region. The objective of this study is to identify the sources of output gains between farmers participating in the project trials and farmer＇s using conventional techniques. Tornqvist-Thiel index was used for the identification of the output gains generated by the technology package. Data used for the analysis were collected from 60 participating farmers during 2011-2012 cropping season, and 110 non-participating farmers. Results show that average production value differential between participating and non-participating farmers is 48.4%. This value is composed of 9.3% gain generated from global factor productivity and 39.1% from the increase of the inputs use. It also indicates the relative importance of inputs contributing to the global factor productivity difference between enhanced technological package and conventional practices in the region. These results are valuable for policy makers since they can be used to focus on main factors affecting the improvement of irrigated wheat productivity in Central Tunisia. Encouraging the adoption of the new technological package is then highly recommended.展开更多
This study is targeted to improve surface irrigation performance of durum wheat in swelling soils. For this purpose, furrow and border irrigation trials were carried out and evaluated under different soil water deplet...This study is targeted to improve surface irrigation performance of durum wheat in swelling soils. For this purpose, furrow and border irrigation trials were carried out and evaluated under different soil water depletion rates, furrow spacing and unitary inlet discharges. Irrigation was triggered whenever the soil water depletion rate reached a predetermined threshold. A comprehensive irrigation evaluation produced hydraulic, agronomic and economic indicators, such as application efficiency, distribution uniformity, crop yield, gross margin and water productivity. Experimental results showed that supplied water depths exceeded soil water deficits, inducing relevant vertical and lateral water losses. Al- though border and furrow irrigation crop yields were virtually tantamount (about 5.5 Mg/ha), furrow irrigation was the system of choice. An irrigation strategy based on a furrow spacing of 150 cm, an inlet discharge of 2 l/s/furrow and a soil water depletion rate of 30% required a gross water depth of 4300 m3/ha/yr and generated an optimum crop yield of 58 qx/ha. In the analyzed range of soil water depletion, the gross margin and water value amounted to 1064 - 1390 Tunisian Dinar per hectare (TD/ha) and 0.39 - 0.44 TD/m3, respectively, for a furrow spacing of 150 cm.展开更多
文摘The enhancement of wheat yield in Tunisia becomes a must for policy makers who need to reduce the importations of this commodity. In this context, the ＂Food Security in Arab Countries＂ project has been established in order to transfer technological innovations that improve irrigated wheat productivity. As a pilot area, this project is being implemented in Chebika （Central Tunisia） region, where in the last two years a new technological package of durum wheat production has been tested by many farmers of the region. The objective of this study is to identify the sources of output gains between farmers participating in the project trials and farmer＇s using conventional techniques. Tornqvist-Thiel index was used for the identification of the output gains generated by the technology package. Data used for the analysis were collected from 60 participating farmers during 2011-2012 cropping season, and 110 non-participating farmers. Results show that average production value differential between participating and non-participating farmers is 48.4%. This value is composed of 9.3% gain generated from global factor productivity and 39.1% from the increase of the inputs use. It also indicates the relative importance of inputs contributing to the global factor productivity difference between enhanced technological package and conventional practices in the region. These results are valuable for policy makers since they can be used to focus on main factors affecting the improvement of irrigated wheat productivity in Central Tunisia. Encouraging the adoption of the new technological package is then highly recommended.
文摘This study is targeted to improve surface irrigation performance of durum wheat in swelling soils. For this purpose, furrow and border irrigation trials were carried out and evaluated under different soil water depletion rates, furrow spacing and unitary inlet discharges. Irrigation was triggered whenever the soil water depletion rate reached a predetermined threshold. A comprehensive irrigation evaluation produced hydraulic, agronomic and economic indicators, such as application efficiency, distribution uniformity, crop yield, gross margin and water productivity. Experimental results showed that supplied water depths exceeded soil water deficits, inducing relevant vertical and lateral water losses. Al- though border and furrow irrigation crop yields were virtually tantamount (about 5.5 Mg/ha), furrow irrigation was the system of choice. An irrigation strategy based on a furrow spacing of 150 cm, an inlet discharge of 2 l/s/furrow and a soil water depletion rate of 30% required a gross water depth of 4300 m3/ha/yr and generated an optimum crop yield of 58 qx/ha. In the analyzed range of soil water depletion, the gross margin and water value amounted to 1064 - 1390 Tunisian Dinar per hectare (TD/ha) and 0.39 - 0.44 TD/m3, respectively, for a furrow spacing of 150 cm.
