A holistic framework to assess the sustainability of irrigated agricultural systems

• Published in: Cogent food & agriculture Vol. 3; no. 1; p. 1323542
• Main Authors: Antunes, Paula, Santos, Rui, Cosme, Inês, Osann, Anna, Calera, Alfonso, De Ketelaere, Dirk, Spiteri, Anna, Mejuto, Miguel Fernández, Andreu, Joaquín, Momblanch, Andrea, Nino, Pasquale, Vanino, Silvia, Florian, Violeta, Chitea, Mihai, Çetinkaya, Cem Polat, Sakamoto, Meiry Sayuri, Kampel, Milton, Palacio Sanchez, Luis Alberto, Abdin, Alaa El-din, Alanasiddaiah, Ravikumar, Nagarajan, Sashikumar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Cogent 2017; Taylor & Francis Ltd; Taylor & Francis Group
• Subjects: Agricultural development; Agricultural economics; Agriculture; Agronomy; Economics; Environmental assessment; Environmental conditions; indicators and framework; irrigated agriculture; Irrigation systems; Profitability; Road construction; Sustainability; sustainability assessment; Sustainable agriculture; sustainable food production; Water use
• ISSN: 2331-1932; 2331-1932
• DOI: 10.1080/23311932.2017.1323542

Irrigated agriculture is a key activity for the long-term survival of human-environmental systems and the assessment of agricultural sustainability has been gaining increasing relevance. In spite of several proposals developed, there is not a holistic approach that can be generally applied to assess sustainability of irrigated agricultural areas. In this paper we present a framework and associated indicators for the assessment of sustainability of irrigated agricultural systems in different contexts and locations. The framework covers four main sustainability dimensions: environmental integrity, economic resilience and profitability, social wellbeing and good governance. This approach was tested in 10 agricultural areas in eight different countries that represent a wide variety of situations in terms of agricultural development, environmental conditions, socio-economic settings and political contexts, but that share the fact that water use is a critical aspect for agricultural development. The obtained results illustrate the usefulness of the proposed framework to obtain a holistic picture of sustainability in irrigated agriculture areas, even in situations of poor data availability. It is also an excellent starting point for the construction of roadmaps towards more sustainable agricultural systems.