Economic and environmental sustainability analysis of guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.) farming process in a Mediterranean area: two case studies

Submitted: 18 November 2013
Accepted: 7 January 2014
Published: 4 February 2014
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Authors

  • Fabio Gresta Department of Agriculture (AGRARIA), Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, Italy.
  • Anna I. De Luca anna.deluca@unirc.it Department of Agriculture (AGRARIA), Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, Italy.
  • Alfio Strano Department of Agriculture (AGRARIA), Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, Italy.
  • Giacomo Falcone Department of Agriculture (AGRARIA), Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, Italy.
  • Carmelo Santonoceto Department of Agriculture (AGRARIA), Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, Italy.
  • Umberto Anastasi Department of Agricultural and Food Science (DISPA), University of Catania, Italy.
  • Giovanni Gulisano Department of Agriculture (AGRARIA), Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, Italy.
Guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.) is a spring-summer legume with a high drought tolerance, grown mainly in India, Pakistan, United States and South Africa, whose seeds contain galactomannans. These can be used as an emollient, softening or thickening agent, a flocculant, as well as in hydraulic fracturing, and as a stabiliser in a wide range of other industrial activities: the production of cosmetics, paper, textiles, paints and varnishes, detergents, in construction, and in food products (jams, jellies, yogurt, mayonnaise, ketchup, diet foods, foods for coeliacs, etc.). In the light of a growing industrial demand for guar flour, in May 2012 a trial was carried out in southern Italy. Seeds from South Africa were sown in large plots on two farms with different soil characteristics. The crop showed yields varying between 1.8 and 2.2 t ha–1. Agronomic results were then used to conduct an integrated sustainability analysis using the production cost analysis and the life cycle assessment, in order to assess, respectively, the cost-effectiveness and the environmental impact of the production process of guar in a Mediterranean environment. Compared to other competitive crops, guar, with less than 3000 kg of CO2 eq. emissions, can be considered as a low-emission crop. Given the above-mentioned yield, guar growing is economically sustainable when the purchase price of seeds is not less than 0.96 € kg–1.

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Fabio Gresta, Department of Agriculture (AGRARIA), Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria
Researcher of Agronomy and Crop Science
Anna I. De Luca, Department of Agriculture (AGRARIA), Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria
Researcher of Agricultural Economics and Policy
Alfio Strano, Department of Agriculture (AGRARIA), Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria
Researcher of Agricultural Economics and Policy
Giacomo Falcone, Department of Agriculture (AGRARIA), Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria
PhD of Agricultural Economics and Policy
Carmelo Santonoceto, Department of Agriculture (AGRARIA), Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria
Associate Professor of Agronomy and Crop Science
Umberto Anastasi, Department of Agricultural and Food Science (DISPA), University of Catania
Researcher of Agronomy and Crop Science
Giovanni Gulisano, Department of Agriculture (AGRARIA), Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria
Full Professor of Agricultural Economics and Policy

How to Cite

Gresta, F., De Luca, A. I., Strano, A., Falcone, G., Santonoceto, C., Anastasi, U., & Gulisano, G. (2014). Economic and environmental sustainability analysis of guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.) farming process in a Mediterranean area: two case studies. Italian Journal of Agronomy, 9(1), 20–24. https://doi.org/10.4081/ija.2014.565