Factors influencing the change in irrigation water usage in Jiangxi province

Abstract

【Objective】 Irrigation is the largest water consumer in many regions. Understanding its variation and the underlying determinants is important for improving water management. Taking Jiangxi province as an example, we analyze the variation in its irrigation water usage, as well as the factors that influence the changes. 【Method】 Based on the information entropy and the balance in water utilization across the province, the logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) decomposition method was used to identify the meteorological factors that affect and contribute to irrigation water usage. 【Result】 The change in agricultural irrigation water consumption in the province is affected mainly by net irrigation water consumption per acre land, effective utilization coefficient of irrigation water, and effective irrigation areas, and actual irrigation ratio. The impact of irrigation water use efficiency negatively affected the change in irrigation water usage, while the impact of other factors varied with other conditions. Correlation analysis showed that the net irrigation water consumption per acre land and its contribution to irrigation water usage are affected mainly by rainfall. Excluding weather-related factors, the change in irrigation water consumption in the province was negative, indicating that the management of irrigation engineering projects has been improved. The increased irrigation water utilization efficiency is the main reason behind the decreased agricultural irrigation water consumption. Five cities in the province, including Shangrao, Fuzhou, Yichun, Jian, and Ganzhou, still have room for implementing water-saving irrigation. 【Conclusion】 Given the potential growth in the ratio of the effective irrigation areas to actual irrigation areas, the province should take measures by, for example, developing water-saving projects in large and medium-sized irrigation areas and optimizing water resource allocation, to improve effective irrigation water utilization coefficient and alleviate water pressure.

Keywords

• lmdi
• impact factor
• net irrigation water consumption per acre
• effective utilization coefficient of irrigation water