scholarly journals Evaluation of Physical and Economic Water-Saving Efficiency for Virtual Water Flows Related to Inter-Regional Crop Trade in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4308
Author(s):  
Jing Liu ◽  
Yu Zhang ◽  
Zhongbo Yu
Keyword(s):  
Water Productivity ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
High Water ◽  
Water Saving ◽  
Trade Patterns ◽  
Water Savings ◽  
Cropping Patterns ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
Water Right ◽  
Water Compensation

If products were traded from regions with relatively high water productivity to regions with relatively low water productivity, water saving could be achieved. In this study, two indices—physical water-saving efficiency (volume of water savings per cubic meter of virtual water flows) and economic water-saving efficiency (value of water savings per cubic meter of virtual water flows considering water right trading)—were proposed to analyze the efficiency of inter-regional virtual water flows related to crop trade in China. Results indicated that the volume of inter-regional virtual water flows was 1.61 × 109 m3, more than 90% of which was occupied by oil-bearing crops, cereals, and beans. In terms of physical efficiency, only cereals and vegetables presented negative values. All kinds of crop trades were economically efficient, while most crops’ economic water-saving efficiency was less than 10 × 103 Yuan/m3. The application of advanced water-saving technologies, the cultivation of new crop varieties, the adjustment of regional cropping patterns, or consumption and trade patterns, could contribute to more water savings and higher physical water-saving efficiency, while the possible social, economic, and environmental tradeoffs should be considered simultaneously. Water right trading and virtual water compensation could contribute to sustainable water consumption, and full-cost pricing should be adapted in the future.

Agricultural infrastructure: the forgotten key driving force on crop-related water footprints and virtual water flows in developing countries: a case for China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongrong Huang ◽  
La Zhuo ◽  
Pute Wu
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
High Water ◽  
North Coast ◽  
Water Flows

<p>Agricultural infrastructure plays important roles in boosting food production and trade system in developing countries, while as being a ‘grey solutions’, generates increasingly risks on the environmental sustainability. There is little information on impacts of agricultural infrastructure developments on water consumption and flows, (i.e. water footprint and virtual water flows) related to crop production, consumption and trade especially in developing countries with high water risk. Here we, taking mainland China over 2000-2017 as the study case, identified and evaluated the strengths and spatial heterogeneities in main socio-economic driving factors of provincial water footprints and inter-provincial virtual water flows related to three staple crops (rice, wheat and maize). For the first time, we consider irrigation (II), electricity (EI) and road infrastructures (RI) in the driving factor analysis through the extended STIRPAT (stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence and technology) model. Results show that the II, EI and RI in China were expanded by 33.8 times, 4.5 times and 2.4 times, respectively by year 2017 compared to 2000. Although the II was the most critical driver to effectively reduce the per unit water footprint, especially the blue water footprint in crop production (i.e., increasing water efficiency), the developments of II led to the bigger total water consumption. Such phenomenon was observed in Jing-Jin region, North Coast and Northwest China with water resource shortage. The EI and RI had increasing effects on provincial virtual water export, and the corresponding driving strengths varied across spaces. Obviously, the visible effects from the agricultural infrastructures on regional water consumption, water productivity and virtual water patterns cannot be neglected. </p>

Treadle pump: A low cost irrigation option for marginal farmers

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (03) ◽  
Author(s):  
ATIQUR RAHMAN ◽  
ASHUTOSH UPADHYAYA ◽  
BP BHATT
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
High Water ◽  
Water Saving ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Human Power ◽  
Dry Spells ◽  
Supplementary Irrigation ◽  
Land Holdings

The population of marginal farmers in India is bound to increase due to continued division of farm holdings. Characteristically, marginal farmers are having more family labours but the production and productivity of their land holdings is low. The foremost reason behind this is the erratic rainfall and lack of assure supplementary irrigation during long dry spells. This paper presents the scope and applicability of a diaphragm based treadle pump in Bihar where groundwater is abundant and available at shallow depths round the year. Therefore, this pump could be very useful for marginal farmers in improving production and productivity of their tiny piece of land, as it uses human power and can be operated by male and female of age group 32- 45 years and lifts water from a depth ranging from 0- 30 feet. The water saving technologies such as bucket kit drum kit etc. could be used with this pump to irrigate the crops with high water productivity.

scholarly journals Water saving through international trade of agricultural products

2006 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 455-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. K. Chapagain ◽  
A. Y. Hoekstra ◽  
H. H. G. Savenije
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
Water Saving ◽  
Agricultural Products ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
Global Water ◽  
National Water

Abstract. Many nations save domestic water resources by importing water-intensive products and exporting commodities that are less water intensive. National water saving through the import of a product can imply saving water at a global level if the flow is from sites with high to sites with low water productivity. The paper analyses the consequences of international virtual water flows on the global and national water budgets. The assessment shows that the total amount of water that would have been required in the importing countries if all imported agricultural products would have been produced domestically is 1605 Gm3/yr. These products are however being produced with only 1253 Gm3/yr in the exporting countries, saving global water resources by 352 Gm3/yr. This saving is 28 per cent of the international virtual water flows related to the trade of agricultural products and 6 per cent of the global water use in agriculture. National policy makers are however not interested in global water savings but in the status of national water resources. Egypt imports wheat and in doing so saves 3.6 Gm3/yr of its national water resources. Water use for producing export commodities can be beneficial, as for instance in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Brazil, where the use of green water resources (mainly through rain-fed agriculture) for the production of stimulant crops for export has a positive economic impact on the national economy. However, export of 28 Gm3/yr of national water from Thailand related to rice export is at the cost of additional pressure on its blue water resources. Importing a product which has a relatively high ratio of green to blue virtual water content saves global blue water resources that generally have a higher opportunity cost than green water.

scholarly journals Virtual water highway: water use efficiency in global food trade

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Yang ◽  
L. Wang ◽  
K. C. Abbaspour ◽  
A. J. B. Zehnder
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
High Water ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Virtual Water Trade ◽  
Food Trade ◽  
Global Food Security ◽  
Global Food

Abstract. Amid an increasing water scarcity in many parts of the world, virtual water trade as both a policy instrument and practical means to balance the regional, national and global water budget has received much attention in recent years. Built upon the knowledge of virtual water accounting in the literature, this study examines the efficiency of the resource use embodied in the global virtual water trade from the perspectives of exporting and importing countries. Different characteristics between "green" and "blue" virtual water corresponding to rainfed and irrigated agriculture are elaborated. The investigation reveals that the virtual water flows primarily from countries of high water productivity to countries of low water productivity, generating a global saving of water resources. Meanwhile, the domination of green virtual water in the total virtual water trade constitutes low opportunity costs and environmental impacts as opposed to blue virtual water. The results suggest efficiency gains in the global food trade in terms of water resource utilization. The study raises awareness of negative impacts of increasing reliance on irrigation for food production in many countries, including food exporting countries. The findings of the study call for a greater emphasis on rainfed agriculture to improve global food security and environmental sustainability.

scholarly journals Internal and external green-blue agricultural water footprints of nations, and related water and land savings through trade

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 483-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Fader ◽  
D. Gerten ◽  
M. Thammer ◽  
J. Heinke ◽  
H. Lotze-Campen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Productivity ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
Green Water ◽  
World Population ◽  
Agricultural Water ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
Increase Food Production ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Water Volumes ◽  
Biosphere Model

Abstract. The need to increase food production for a growing world population makes an assessment of global agricultural water productivities and virtual water flows important. Using the hydrology and agro-biosphere model LPJmL, we quantify at 0.5° resolution the blue (irrigation water) and green (precipitation water) virtual water content, i.e. the inverse of water productivity, for 11 of the world's major crop types. Based on these, we also quantify the water footprints (WFP) of all countries, for the period 1998-2002, distinguishing internal and external WFP (virtual water imported from other countries) and their blue and green components, respectively. Moreover, we calculate water savings and losses, and for the first time also land savings and losses, through international trade with these products. The consistent separation of blue and green water flows and footprints, which is needed due to the different sources and opportunity costs of these two water pools, shows that green water globally dominates both the internal and external WFP (84% of the global WFP and 94% of the external WFP rely on green water). Accordingly, some of the major exporters of the crops considered here (e.g. Argentina, Canada) export mainly green virtual water, but traditional rice exporters such as India and Pakistan mainly export blue virtual water. The external WFPs are found to be relatively small (6% of the total global blue WFP, 16% of the total global green WFP). Nevertheless, current trade saves significant water volumes and land areas (~263 km3 and ~41 Mha, respectively, equivalent to 5% of the sowing area of the crops considered here and 3.5% of the annual precipitation on this area). Linking the proportions of external to internal blue/green WFP with the per capita WFPs allows recognizing that only a few countries consume more water from abroad than from their own territory and have at the same time above average WFPs. Thus, countries with high levels of per capita water consumption affect mainly the water situation in their own country.

Virtual water flows and economic water productivity of Italian fair-trade: the case of bananas, cocoa and coffee

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pier Paolo Miglietta ◽  
Christian Fischer ◽  
Federica De Leo
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Fair Trade ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
Water Volumes ◽  
Measurement And Evaluation

PurposeIn a globalized economic system, the role of agrifood production is to ensure at the same time both the population's livelihood and environmental resource conservation. The present study aims at expanding the debate on the potentials of the fair-trade in terms of environmental sustainability.Design/methodology/approachThe research presents a methodology divided into three phases: (1) the identification of the water footprint values associated with the production of bananas, cocoa and coffee imported from developing countries to Italy; (2) the calculation of the virtual water volumes used to produce the crops imported from developing countries to Italy through fair-trade; (3) the analysis of the economic water productivity, obtained by the fair-trade premium, for bananas, cocoa and coffee.FindingsThe results of this study identified and measured the amount of virtual water flows and water savings or losses deriving from the fair-trade of bananas, cocoa and coffee. The average virtual water flow related to the fair-trade imports in Italy amounts to 7.27 million m3 for bananas, 22,275 m3 for cocoa and 14,334 m3 for coffee. The research findings also highlight that fair-trade and the related premium ensures at the same time the achievement of social and institutional purposes but also the remuneration of virtual water used within the life cycle of the imported crops.Originality/valuePrevious scientific literature showed that fair-trade premium has commonly been used to finance environmental protection. No study has evaluated the environmental impacts associated with fair-trade, nor the monetary value associated with the natural resources exploited to produce crops to be exported. This empirical paper fills a literature gap in terms of identification, measurement and evaluation of virtual water flows along the supply chain processes of some fair-traded crops, also providing, through the economic water productivity approach, a useful tool for decision-makers.

scholarly journals Measuring scarce water saving from interregional virtual water flows in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 054012 ◽  
Author(s):  
X Zhao ◽  
Y P Li ◽  
H Yang ◽  
W F Liu ◽  
M R Tillotson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Water ◽  
Water Saving ◽  
Water Flows ◽  
Scarce Water
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