Abstract
Climate change and the ongoing water crisis necessitate the adoption of efficient agricultural production systems that are adapted to arid and semi-arid regions. Insisting on cultivating water-intensive products, especially cucumber, in areas facing severe water shortages has led to environmental and ecological challenges. Therefore, moving towards water-resistant species and encouraging and informing farmers are imperative to fulfill the sustainable agriculture goals. Hence, this study was conducted to assess the environmental and economic burdens of cucumber compared to Opuntia ficus-indica cultivation, a drought-tolerant plant, in an arid region of eastern Iran. The life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed on a functional unit of one ton of product, encompassing every stage from greenhouse construction through to harvest. The cost analysis was also carried out over a 25-year cultivation horizon. The results indicated that cucumber cultivation had 1.8 to 8.3 times higher environmental impacts across nearly all impact categories due to intensive operational inputs. Cucumber showed 4.5 times higher CO₂ emissions (2443 kg CO(2) eq) and over 8 times more water demand (95.42 m(3)) than O. ficus-indica. For the cucumber, the operational phase was dominated by diesel and electricity consumption, which influenced global warming (90.8%), ozone formation (88.5%), and ecotoxicity potential (59-78%). Both crops showed significant impacts during the greenhouse construction phase (> 95% contribution), linked mainly to materials such as concrete and cables. The integrated analysis confirmed that the cultivation of O. ficus-indica reduced total environmental impacts by 75% compared to cucumber. Although the economic analysis highlighted a higher internal rate of return (21.49%) and a shorter payback period (6.44 years) for cucumber, its cultivation was not economically justifiable due to the nearly 10 times higher water and fuel consumption. This study suggests O. ficus-indica cultivation as a sustainable low-input alternative with a more balanced footprint in water-scarce and climate-sensitive regions.