Economic and Financial Evaluation of Cork Oaks Forest Plantations Under Fertirrigation
Constança Camilo-Alves, MED – Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development and CHANGE – Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Portugal AND Institute for Advanced Studies and Research, University of Evora, Portugal, calves@uevora.pt
, José António Nunes, ICT – Institute of Earth Sciences and Department of Plant Science, School of Science and Technology, University of Evora, Portugal, Ana Poeiras, MED – Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development and CHANGE – Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Portugal AND Institute for Advanced Studies and Research, University of Evora, Portugal, João Ribeiro, ICT – Institute of Earth Sciences and Department of Plant Science, School of Science and Technology, University of Evora, Portugal, Margarida Vaz, MED – Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development and CHANGE – Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Portugal AND Department of Biology, School of Science and Technology, University of Evora, Portugal, João Mota Barroso, MED – Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development and CHANGE – Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Portugal AND Department of Plant Science, School of Science and Technology, University of Evora, Portugal, Nuno Almeida-Ribeiro, ICT – Institute of Earth Sciences and Department of Plant Science, School of Science and Technology, University of Evora, Portugal AND Department of Economics, School of Social Sciences, University of Evora, Portugal, António Cipriano Pinheiro, Department of Economics, School of Social Sciences, University of Evora, Portugal
Suggested Citation
Constança Camilo-Alves, José António Nunes, Ana Poeiras, João Ribeiro, Margarida Vaz, João Mota Barroso, Nuno Almeida-Ribeiro and António Cipriano Pinheiro (2025), "Economic and Financial Evaluation of Cork Oaks Forest Plantations Under Fertirrigation", Journal of Forest Economics: Vol. 39: No. . http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/112.00000582
Cork oaks usually become productive after 20 years of age. To
shorten this period, fertirrigation has been tested to enhance tree
vitality and growth, thus anticipating cork stripping. This study
aims to determine the economic and financial indicators of this
afforestation technique compared to rainfed indicators. Simulations
were conducted based on information gathered from fertirrigated
and rainfed stands, assuming 4 × 4m tree spacing and good site
quality. Various net cork renevues, initiation, and maintenance
costs were tested. Fertirrigation was more profitable in most
combinations, except for the most expensive one when net cork
value was low. In other scenarios, fertirrigation was advantageous as
it reduced time to the first cork stripping to 12 years since planting
and increased tree growth and productivity. Fertirrigation can be
discontinued when cork productivity reaches 300 @ (4500 kg)/ha,
with no potential advantage in maintaining fertirrigation beyond
that point.