| |
| author |
Muhammad Mir
| | title |
Modeling Water Optimization in Jordanian Agricultural Economy
| | abstract |
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is a region that faces many fresh water
challenges. The region is endowed with 1% of the world’s water resources while
hosting 5% of the world's population. A variety of water scarcity indicators consistently rank MENA states as some of the worst in the world. MENA also faces a
variety of sociopolitical and geopolitical conflicts that both directly and indirectly
stress existing water resources. Therefore, it is especially important to optimize
water usage for countries in this region. In this thesis, we focus on the country
of Jordan, investigating quantities of agricultural production and trade that would
optimize its water usage. To do so, we first use the Water Footprint theory and the
idea of virtual water to quantify the water usage based on the domestic production
and trade for a particular set of commodities. We then run a multiobjective optimization to determine the optimal quantities of production, import, and export for
each commodity that would produce less water usage and more revenue, relative to
a baseline year, and account for meeting domestic demand and food security needs.
The results show that Jordan, in 2019, could have saved more water and generated
more revenue if they reduced the import of apricots, tomatoes, and peaches while
also reducing the exports of maize and wheat.
| | school |
The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University
| | degree |
B.A. (2024)
|
| advisor |
Yi Lu
Jennifer Olmsted
|
| committee |
Carlos Yordan
|
| full text | MMir.pdf |
| |
