Economics of drip irrigation for apple (Malus domestica) orchards in 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.