Introduction:

The Calera aquifer is depleted, and irrigated agriculture uses 90.2 % of the extracted water with a use efficiency of 43.5 %.

Objective:

To determine the productivity of irrigation water in the main crops of the central-southern zone of the Calera aquifer to know the efficiency of its use and identify savings opportunities.

Methodology:

The physical and economic productivity of water for garlic, onion, alfalfa, green pepper, dry bean and corn crops was calculated using the volume of irrigated water, yield, and production costs and value. The valuation was performed using June 2012 as the base period and was expressed in constant Mexican pesos (MXN).

Results:

The physical and economic productivity of water was higher in onion (5.48 kg·m-3 and 13.42 MXN·m-3) and lower in dry bean (0.30 kg·m-3 and 2.44 MXN·m-3), corn (1.37 kg·m-3 and 1.54 MXN·m-3) and alfalfa (1.53 kg·m-3 and 1.77 MXN·m-3). Without subsidizing electricity for pumping, alfalfa had the lowest economic productivity (-4.23 MXN·m-3).

Study limitations:

Lack of official information about water productivity in the Calera aquifer prevented studying a longer period of time and carrying out a more in-depth analysis of the results.

Originality:

This study updates and improves the results obtained in 2011 within the Plan de Manejo Integral del Acuífero Calera (Calera Aquifer Integrated Management Plan).

Conclusions:

Crop production with low efficiency in the use of water jeopardizes its availability in the Calera aquifer.