Udias Angel, Pastori Marco, Dondeynaz Céline, Carmona Moreno Cesar, Ali Abdou, Cattaneo Luigi, Cano Javier
European Commission-Joint Research Centre, via E. Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, VA, Italy.
AGRHYMET Regional Centre, Niamey, Niger.
Comput Electron Agric. 2018 Nov;154:467-481. doi: 10.1016/j.compag.2018.09.037.
We describe in this paper the implementation of E-Water, an open software Decision Support System (DSS), designed to help local managers assess the Water Energy Food Environment (WEFE) nexus. E-Water aims at providing optimal management solutions to enhance food crop production at river basin level. The DSS was applied in the transboundary Mékrou river basin, shared among Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. The primary sector for local economy in the region is agriculture, contributing significantly to income generation and job creation. Fostering the productivity of regional agricultural requires the intensification of farming practices, promoting additional inputs (mainly nutrient fertilizers and water irrigation) but, also, a more efficient allocation of cropland. In order to cope with the heterogeneity of data, and the analyses and issues required by the WEFE nexus approach, our DSS integrates the following modules: (1) the EPIC biophysical agricultural model; (2) a simplified regression metamodel, linking crop production with external inputs; (3) a linear programming and a multiobjective genetic algorithm optimization routines for finding efficient agricultural strategies; and (4) a user-friendly interface for input/output analysis and visualization. To test the main features of the DSS, we apply it to various real and hypothetical scenarios in the Mékrou river basin. The results obtained show how food unavailability due to insufficient local production could be reduced by, approximately, one third by enhancing the application and optimal distribution of fertilizers and irrigation. That would also affect the total income of the farming sector, eventually doubling it in the best case scenario. Furthermore, the combination of optimal agricultural strategies and modified optimal cropland allocation across the basin would bring additional moderate increases in food self-sufficiency, and more substantial gains in the total agricultural income. The proposed software framework proves to be effective, enabling decision makers to identify efficient and site-specific agronomic management strategies for nutrients and water. Such practices would augment crop productivity, which, in turn, would allow to cope with increasing future food demands, and find a balanced use of natural resources, also taking other economic sectors-like livestock, urban or energy-into account.
我们在本文中描述了E-Water的实施情况，E-Water是一个开放的软件决策支持系统（DSS），旨在帮助地方管理者评估水-能源-粮食-环境（WEFE）关系。E-Water旨在提供优化管理解决方案，以提高流域层面的粮食作物产量。该决策支持系统应用于贝宁、布基纳法索和尼日尔共享的跨境梅克鲁河流域。该地区地方经济的主要部门是农业，对创收和创造就业有重大贡献。提高区域农业生产力需要强化耕作方式，增加额外投入（主要是营养肥料和灌溉用水），同时也需要更有效地分配农田。为了应对数据的异质性以及WEFE关系方法所需的分析和问题，我们的决策支持系统集成了以下模块：（1）EPIC生物物理农业模型；（2）一个简化的回归元模型，将作物产量与外部投入联系起来；（3）用于寻找高效农业策略的线性规划和多目标遗传算法优化程序；（4）一个用于输入/输出分析和可视化的用户友好界面。为了测试决策支持系统的主要特性，我们将其应用于梅克鲁河流域的各种真实和假设情景。所得结果表明，通过加强肥料和灌溉的应用及优化分配，因当地产量不足导致的粮食短缺可减少约三分之一。这也将影响农业部门的总收入，在最佳情况下最终使其翻倍。此外，整个流域最优农业策略与调整后的最优农田分配相结合，将使粮食自给率适度提高，并大幅增加农业总收入。所提出的软件框架被证明是有效的，使决策者能够确定针对养分和水的高效且因地制宜的农艺管理策略。此类做法将提高作物生产力，进而能够应对未来不断增长的粮食需求，并在考虑畜牧、城市或能源等其他经济部门的情况下，实现自然资源的平衡利用。
