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Water Footprint of Grain Product in Irrigated Farmland of China

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Abstract

China faces the dual challenge of grain production pressure and water scarcity. It is significant to reduce water footprint of grain product (WFGP, m3/t) in irrigated farmland. The focus of grain production and agricultural water use, and the precondition is to determine the WFGP and its composition. This paper estimates the WFGP in irrigated farmland of 31 provinces (including municipalities, autonomous regions) a by collecting actual data of 443 typical irrigation districts in 1998, 2005 and 2010, and analyses its temporal and spatial variation in irrigated farmland of China. The result shows that the WFGP in each province decreases with time except in Jiangxi and Hunan, and the average value of all provinces reduced from 1494 m3/t in 1998 to 1243 m3/t in 2010. The WFGP decreases faster in more developed municipal cities and major grain production provinces. The annual average WFGP in irrigated farmland is 1339 m3/t and the blue and green water account for 63.5 % and 36.5 % of the total, respectively. The WFGP and its composition are significantly different between provinces. Generally, provinces distributed inside and beyond Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, have a higher water productivity, lower WFGP and blue water footprint of grain product, while most provinces located in northwest, northeast, southeast and south China have a higher WFGP and lower proportion of green water in the WFGP as a whole. Portion of the blue water footprint (BWFGP) is not consumed for crop evapotranspiration (BWFGP ET ) but conveyance loss (BWFGP cl ). The national averaged BWFGP cl decreases with time and but still remains up to 466 m3/t in 2010, making up 34.8 % of the WFGP. In order to safeguard grain security and ease the water resource pressure, the Chinese government should increase investment and apply advanced technology for developing water-saving agriculture, improve the efficiency of water use and further reduce the WFGP. Considering also the contribution of grain output and the relatively high WFGP, the government should give priority to developing water-saving agriculture in the Northeast of China.

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Acknowledgments

This work is jointly supported by the Special Foundation of National Science & Technology Supporting Plan (2011BAD29B09), 111 Project (No.B12007), the Supporting Plan of Young Elites and basic operational cost of research from Northwest A & F University, and the Scholarship Award for Excellent Doctoral Student granted by the Ministry of Education (2012). We are grateful to National Center of Irrigation and Drainage Development, the Ministry of Water Resource of China for providing this study with precious data. We specially appreciate Sun Shikun and Tao Yuanyuan from Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), who have checked the language for the paper. Last but not least, we thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the newest version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A & F University, Xinong Road 22, 712100, Yangling, Shaanxi, China

    Xinchun Cao, Pute Wu, Yubao Wang & Xining Zhao

  2. Institute of Water Saving Agriculture in Arid regions of China, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, China

    Xinchun Cao, Pute Wu, Yubao Wang & Xining Zhao

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  1. Xinchun Cao
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  2. Pute Wu
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Correspondence to Pute Wu.

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Cao, X., Wu, P., Wang, Y. et al. Water Footprint of Grain Product in Irrigated Farmland of China. Water Resour Manage 28, 2213–2227 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-014-0607-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-014-0607-1

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