New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science abstracts
Economics of drip irrigation for apple (Malus domestica) orchards
in Turkey
B. Cetin
Department of Agricultural Economics
Faculty of Agriculture
Uludag University
16059 Bursa, Turkey
email: bcetin@uludag.edu.tr
H. Ozer
Department of Horticulture
Faculty of Agriculture
Uludag University
16059 Bursa, Turkey
H. Kuscu
Department of Agricultural Engineering
Faculty of Agriculture
Uludag University
16059 Bursa, Turkey
Abstract Agricultural growers need investment and cost
guidelines for drip irrigation to evaluate the economics of getting crops
into production as quickly as possible and to avoid the impact of drought
during the productive life of apple (Malus domestica). The benefits
of irrigation may include: better apple quality, earlier crop production,
greater yields, efficient nutrient distribution, less plant stress, reduced
yield variability, and improved crop quality. This research was conducted
to help Turkish apple growers evaluate the financial investment in drip irrigation
systems. Net present value (NPV) criterion was used to determine the discounted
break-even investment results from published responses to drip irrigation
systems. Growers with typical drip irrigation systems can expect an initial
investment of us$1415 per ha when the orchard blocks are c. 5 ha in size.
Analysis of survey findings indicate that net present values were us$2584
for ‘Granny Smith’ and us$909 for ‘Golden Delicious’, respectively, after
an initial investment of us$1415 per ha. On the other hand, the analysis
indicates that in present value terms, a grower could spend up to us$3999
for ‘Granny Smith’ and us$2324 for ‘Golden Delicious’ per ha for drip irrigation
systems and still break even.
Keywords apple orchards; drip irrigation; economics;
investment decisions
Received 15 October 2003; accepted 6 July 2004 H03097; Online publication
date 11 November 2004
New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science, 2004, Vol. 32:
349-354
0014-0671/04/3204-0349 $7.00 © The Royal Society of New Zealand
2004
PDF file of entire paper: Print-quality (65K) |
screen-quality (74K)
This year's abstracts |
Journal home page |
All abstracts |
Publishing home page
