Resumo

SANCHEZ COHEN, Ignacio et al. Comparative indexes of water use in agriculture. Agric. Téc. Méx [online]. 2006, vol.32, n.3, pp.333-340. ISSN 0568-2517.

The evaluation of productivity of the natural resources is an essential task for promoting its sustainability and optimal use. The overall objective of this study was to expose the relevance of the use of efficiency and vulnerability indexes for the use of water in agricultural systems under irrigation. A study case is presented regarding the evaluation of crop patterns for the agricultural year 2003 during the spring-summer season and fall-winter 2003-2004 of two irrigation districts in the central-north region of Mexico. Also, the evaluation of the operation of four irrigation districts is presented. In both cases, indexes developed for the International Water Management Institute were used. We concluded on the utility of these indexes for satisfactory decision taking processes and for clasifing farmers according to their capacity to cope with climatic uncertainty.

Palavras-chave : Decision; rainfed; risk taking; uncertainty; vulnerability.