Energy budget and economic analysis of modern and traditional wheat production systems in Kurdistan province of Iran

This study was conducted to analyze input-output energies and economic analysis of modern and traditional wheat production systems of Kurdistan province, Iran. Data were collected from 100 dryland and 100 irrigated wheat fields. The fields were selected randomly, and inquiries conducted in a face-to-face interview from May up to August next year. The results showed that total energy inputs, energy use efficiency, and specific energy were 49,956 MJ ha-1, 2.4, and 4.9 MJ kg-1 in modern irrigated wheat system, respectively, 19,064 MJ ha-1, 3.4, and 3.4 MJ kg-1 in traditional irrigated wheat system, 16,598 MJ ha-1, 1.7, and 6.7 MJ kg-1 in modern dryland wheat system, and 14,471 MJ ha-1, 1.99 and 5.75 MJ kg-1 in traditional dryland wheat system, respectively. The economic analysis revealed that the total cost of production and net return were 546.5 and 1,448.6 USD ha-1 in modern irrigated wheat, 206.4 and 844.7 USD ha-1 in traditional irrigated wheat, 230.5 and 237.6 USD ha-1 in modern dryland wheat and 185.2 and 266.1 USD ha-1 in traditional dryland wheat systems, respectively. The results of this study showed that the modern wheat production system uses more energy compared to that by the traditional wheat production system. Thus, the wheat producers are advised to adopt modern wheat production systems with some caution.