Economic and environmental assessment of tobacco production in Northern Iran

Environmental and economic aspects of a production system are two main pillars to study the sustainability of the system. In this regard, the purpose of this study was the economic and environmental assessment of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) production in rainfed and irrigated systems in northern Iran. The data were collected from 133 rainfed and 176 irrigated tobacco farms in three provinces of Mazandaran, Golestan, and Guilan in Iran. The standard method of life cycle assessment (LCA) provided by ISO 14040-44 was used to study the environmental impacts. Four economic indices, including gross income, net income, benefit to cost ratio, and economic productivity, were examined for the economic analysis of the cropping systems. In the study of environmental impacts, the average value of global warming input was 2624.11 kgCO(2eq). The comparison of rainfed and irrigated systems revealed that the rainfed system in all impact categories had the highest environmental impact. Moreover, emissions from on-site operations and the use of two inputs of natural gas and chemical fertilizers had the highest effect on characterization indices. The results also showed that tobacco production had the highest adverse effects on resources and a significant amount of fossil fuels used in the production process had the largest share in increasing this damage group. Economic analysis also highlighted that the average net income and benefit to cost ratio were 6646.86 $ ha(-1) and 2.27. The irrigated system had higher values of the indices than the rainfed system, indicating the higher profitability of the irrigated production system.