Choosing the best province in potato production using water footprint assessment

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 MSc Student of Ecohydrology Engineering, Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies, University of Tehran, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies, University of Tehran, Iran

3 Associate Professor, Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies, University of Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The water footprint is considered as an indicator of freshwater resources appropriation which brings valuable insight about the environmental impact of a given product. The current study aims to determine the best country’s province for the potato crop production in terms of fresh water consumption using water footprint indicator. For this purpose, first, the data on harvested area, production and yield in major producing provinces were collected for the crop year 2014-15. Then, to calculate the water footprint in each province, information such as crop water requirement and effective precipitation were collected separately for each province and finally water footprint components were determined. The results showed that green, blue and grey water footprint had the most contribution in all provinces, respectively. According to calculated total water footprint, Hamedan province is the best region for potato harvesting and Semnan province is the most difficult region for this purpose. Water footprint average for potato production was calculated to be 527 m3/ton in the country. According to water footprint indicator and potato production of provinces, it was determined that in mentioned crop year, Hamedan province by using 338 MCM and North Khorasan by using 18 MCM of water, used the highest and the lowest amount of water for this agricultural production, respectively.

Keywords

Main Subjects


 
[1]. Torriani D, Calanca P, Lips M, Amman, H, Beniston M, Fuhrer J. Regional assessment of climate change impacts on maize productivity and associated production risk in Switzerland. Reg. Environ. Change. 2007; 7(3): 209–221.
[2]. Bocchiola D, Nana E, Soncini A. Impact of climate change scenarios on crop yield and water footprint of maize in the Po valley of Italy. Agric. Water Manag. 2013; 116(1): 50–61.
[3]. Supit I, van Diepen CA, Dewit AJW, Kabat P, Baruth B, Ludwig F. Recent changes in the climatic yield potential of various crops in Europe. Agric. Syst. 2010; 103(7): 683–694.
[4]. Fader M, Gerten D, Thammer M, Lotze-Campen H, Lucht W, Cramer W. Internal and external green–blue agricultural water footprints of nations, and related water and land savings through trade. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 2011; 15(4): 1641–1660.
[5]. Palazzoli I, Maskey S, Uhlenbrook S, Nana E, Bocchiola D. Impact of prospective climate change on water resources and crop yields in the Indrawati basin, Nepal. Agric. Syst. 2015; 133(8): 143–157.
[6]. Herath I, Green S, Horne D, Singh R, Clothier B. Quantifying and reducing the water footprint of rain-fed potato production Part I: Measuring the net use of blue and green water. J. Clean. Prod. 2014; 81(15): 111–119.
[7]. Cucek L, Klemes JJ, Kravanja Z. A review of footprint analysis tools for monitoring impacts on sustainability. J. Clean. Prod. 2012; 34(6): 9–20.
[8]. Hoekstra AY. Virtual Water Trade: Proceedings of the international expert meeting on virtual water trade, Delft, The Netherlands, 12-13 December 2002. UNESCO-IHE, Delft, The Netherlands. Value of Water Research Report Series. 2003; No. 12.
[9]. Mekonnen MM, Hoekstra AY. The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 2011; 15(4): 1577–1600.
[10]. Yuhang W, Deshan T, Ding Y, Agoramoorthy, G. Incorporating water consumption into crop water footprint: A case study of China's south–north water diversion project. Sci. Total Environ. 2016. 545(14): 601–608.
[11]. Hoekstra AY. Water scarcity challenges to business. Nat. Clim. Change. 2014; 4(7): 318–320.
[12]. Zhuo L, Mekonnen, MM, Hokestra AY, Wada Y. Inter- and intra-annual variation of water footprint of crops and blue water scarcity in the Yellow River basin (1961–2009). Adv. Water Resour. 2016; 87(11): 29–41.
[13]. Chukalla AD, Krol MS, Hoekstra AY. Green and blue water footprint reduction in irrigated agriculture: effect of irrigation techniques, irrigation strategies and mulching. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 2015; 19(3): 4877–4891
[14]. Mekonnen MM, Hoekstra AY. The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 2011; 15(3): 1577–1600.
[15]. Lu Y, Zhang X, Chen S, Shao L, Sun H. Changes in water use efficiency and water footprint in grain production over the past 35 years: a case study in the North China Plain. J. Clean. Prod. 2016. 116(17): 71–79.
[16]. Ababaei B, Ramezani Etedali, H. Water footprint assessment of main cereals in Iran. Agric. Water Manag. 2017; 179(21): 401-411.
[17]. Schyns JF, Hoekstra AY. The added value of water footprint assessment for national water policy: A Case Study for Morocco. Plos One. 2014; 9(6): 1–14.
[18]. Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural statistics of crop productions for 2014-2015 crop year. Ministry of Agriculture Publication. Vol.1. 2015; 163p. [In Persian]
[19]. Hoekstra AY, Chapagain AK. Globalization of water: Sharing the planet’s freshwater resources. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK; 2008.
[20]. Hoekstra AY, Chapagain AK, Aldaya MM, Mekonnen MM. Water footprint manual: State of the Art 2009. Water Footprint Network, Enschede, The Netherlands; 2009.
[21]. Hoekstra AY, Chapagain AK, Aldaya MM, Mekonnen MM. The water footprint assessment manual: Setting the global standard. Earth scan, London, UK; 2011.
[22]. Ministry of Agriculture, Costs of agricultural productions. Ministry of Agriculture Publication. 2014; 73p. [In Persian]
[23]. Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural statistics of water and soil resources. Ministry of Agriculture Publication. Vol. 2. 2015; 73p. [In Persian]
[24]. Chapagain AK, Hoekstra AY, Savenije HHG. Water saving through international trade of agricultural products. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 2006; 10(4): 455–468
[25]. Prasad R, Hochmuth GJ, Boote KJ. Estimation of nitrogen pools in irrigated potato production on sandy soil using the model SUBSTOR. Plos One. 2015; 10(1): 0–20.
[26]. Rodriguez CI, Ruiz de Galarreta VA, Kruse EE. Analysis of water footprint of potato production in the Pampean region of Argentina. J. Clean. Prod. 2015; 90(4): 91–96.
[27]. Huang J, Zhang H, Tong W, Chen F. The impact of local crops consumption on the water resources in Beijing. J. Clean. Prod. 2012; 21(1): 45–50.
Volume 4, Issue 2
June 2017
Pages 523-532
  • Receive Date: 30 December 2016
  • Revise Date: 23 April 2017
  • Accept Date: 16 March 2017
  • First Publish Date: 22 June 2017
  • Publish Date: 22 June 2017