Economics of drip irrigation for peach (Prunus persica) orchards in Turkey

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 periods of drought during the productive life of peach (Prunus persica). The benefits of irrigation may include: better peach 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 peach growers make decisions in the investment of drip irrigation systems through financial analysis. This analysis was aimed at the farm business level to provide an economic rationale for the investing 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 investments of US$1593 per ha with 3.99 ha blocks of peaches. Analysis of survey findings indicate that NPVs were US$1394.67 for J. H. Hale' and US$1796.20 for 'Early Red' respectively after an initial investment of US$1593 per ha. On the other hand, the analysis indicates that in present value terms, a grower could spend up to US$2987.67 for 'J. H. Hale' and US$3389.20 for 'Early Red' per ha for drip irrigation systems and still break even