This document is a 490-word abstract written by Qasem Abdou, Deputy Minister Assistant for Natural Resources Affairs, about the effect of economic irrigation efficiency on agricultural crop patterns in the Jordan Valley region of Palestine. It summarizes that irrigation with brackish water is common practice in this arid region, and greater attention is now being paid to the economic efficiency of water used for plant production. Certain irrigated vegetables like protected paprika have the highest economic efficiency, while some field crops and horticultural plants have negative values. Understanding the relationship between economic efficiency and crop comparative advantage will help improve water demand management and pricing in the region. However, applying these findings is limited by aggressive Israeli occupation measures like land confiscation

1. Name of writer: Qasem Abdou
Occupation: Deputy Minister Assistant for Natural Resources Affairs
Title : Effect of Economic Irrigation Efficiency on Agricultural crop Pattern in
Jordan Valley region - Palestine.
No. of Words: 490
Abstract:
Jordan Valley or the basket of vegetables for West Bankers, is an agro-ecological zone where
one of the main constrains for developing agricultural sector is the salinization of land and water
abstracted from ground wells. Irrigation with brackish water is a common and dominant practice
in this arid zone.
Greater attention is directing now to hightlighten the issue of economic efficiency of water used
in plant production in this area because water and electricity constitutes 15% of the total input
value of production cycle. In general for all regions, it is found that the economic efficiency
values of irrigating vegetables are more than that of horticultural and field crops. For vegetables,
in Jordan Valley region, protected irrigated paprika exhibits the most efficient use of water (21.4
USD cubic meters (CM)), whereas the lowest values were estimated in autumn open irrigated
cucumber (9 US Cents CM). In the case of field crops, the highest and the lowest values were
recorded for autumn potato (10.2 USDCM) and dry onions (- 0.46 USDCM), respectively. For
horticultures planted in Jordan Valleys region, the highest value of the economic efficiency of
water was recorded in irrigated grape (0.78 USDCM) and the lowest was in date (- 9 US Cents
CM) despite the positive comparative advantage value of the latter.
If price of water would be tripled in Jordan valley region, the impact on the comparative
advantage of each crop was tested. Despite the negative impact on the comparative advantage of
all crops, the majority of irrigated vegetables would maintain their advantages. In case of the
fruit trees, the comparative advantage would be maintained for the bananas, and would be lost
for orange and date. However the increase of water prices on private prices will jeopardize
farming feasibility and might have substantial impacts agricultural activities.
When the comparative advantage values for 2012 are compared to that recorded in 1999, all
crops in Jordan Valley region shows positive improvements with the exception of spring open
irrigated tomato and autumn open irrigated cucumber. This improvement can be justified by the
progress made by the Palestinian farmers in adopting modern methods and advanced
technologies in irrigation and agricultural practices.
Understanding the relationship between the values of the economic efficiency of water and
comparative advantage of crops (DRC), will lead to a deeper understanding of the economics of
water used in agriculture and will be one of the pillars in improving the water demand
management and agricultural water tariff for fresh and brackish irrigation water in Jordan valley

2. region. The analysis would help in agricultural water policies reforming in regards to the future
changes in crop patterns in this area and in other regions without compromising the sustainability
of natural resources. The most important and critical constraints limit the application of these
findings is the aggressive measures imposed by the Israeli military occupation such as land
confiscation, demolition of water infrastructures, limitation to accessibility and movement, and
illegal settlements.
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