Development of an Agent-Based Model to simulate the behavior of Agricultural Users in Water and Land Management

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 PhD Student, Water Resources Engineering Group, Agriculture Dept., Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Water Resources Engineering Group, Agriculture Dept., Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Engineering Systems and Services Group, Technology, Policy and Management Dept., Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands

4 Professor, Water Management Group, Integrated Water Systems and Governance Dept., IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Delft, Netherlands Professor, Water Management Group, Civil Engineering Dept., Delft University of Technology,

5 Professor, Water Resources Engineering Group, Agriculture Dept., Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

6 Associate Professor, Agricultural Promotion and Education Group, Agriculture Dept., Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Since there are various social factors and differences between different sectors of the system, ignoring water users’ attributes and their social behavior as well as considering only the homogeneous and up-down management scheme, would not be a successful approach in sustainable water management. Agent-Based Modeling is a relatively new approach that provides helpful tools to simulate social behaviors in sustainable water management. In this study, the agriculture sector’s water use is simulated using a conceptual framework and an Agent-Based Model to study the behavior of the decision-making agents. Therefore, to prepare the conceptual model and to simulate and analyze the social behavior of water users (in three decision levels of the Government, local organizations, and farmers) to decide on the cropping pattern, the irrigation method, and consequently the water withdrawal volume, the MAIA framework has been applied. In this regard, the Agent-Based Model for a pilot study area (the Hablehroud River basin, Iran) was coded, verified, calibrated, and validated. This model had a good performance in simulating the basin’s conditions, including cropping patterns and areas, and therefore the stream flow and groundwater use. Furthermore, to assess the impacts of the government’s water conservation policies on the hydrologic conditions, different scenarios of taking and increasing water costs were defined and modeled (one to ten thousand IRR per cm of water use led to a decrease in the total water withdrawals in the range of 8-32 million cubic meters per year).

Keywords

References

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Iranian journal of Ecohydrology
Volume 7, Issue 2
July 2020
Pages 421-435

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History

  • Receive Date: 07 August 2019
  • Revise Date: 01 May 2020
  • Accept Date: 01 May 2020
  • First Publish Date: 21 June 2020
  • Publish Date: 21 June 2020

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