Abstract
In this study we estimate agricultural water footprint and its components from consumption perspective in arid and semi-arid region like Iran. This study is based on blue water consumption in irrigated land. Iran has imported net virtual water about 11.64 billion cubic meters (bcm) as international crop trade in 2005-2006. Therefore, Iran has depended on virtual water imports. By conserving about 60% irrigation efficiency, the total water requirement to produce imported crops in Iran is nearly 20.78 billion cubic meters. It is nearly 9 percent of renewable water resources and 12.65% agricultural appropriated water which has added to internal water resources. Agricultural virtual water budget is about 112.78 Gm3/yr. Agricultural water footprint is 110.2 Gm3/yr. About 12.83% of agricultural water footprint of Iran is related to external water resources on the country boundaries. It means external water footprint. Water dependency, water self-sufficiency and water scarcity indexes in agricultural sector of Iran, are estimated 10.1%, 89.9% and 70.8%, respectively.
Highlights
Water is an essential factor for producing goods and services
Virtual water content of each crop has been affected from water requirement and water productivity which are variable in each place
By considering irrigation efficiency about 60 %, water productivity average has decreased to 0.67 kg·m–3 at irrigated land
Summary
Water is an essential factor for producing goods and services. By increasing population, water resources have become scarce to sufficient production of food. Per person consumes about 4 liter water in different form, whereas for producing daily food per capita it needs about 2000 liter water [1]. It has estimated that population of Iran will increase to 100 million people in 2030 and we will need about 150 billion cubic meter of water per year to supply food security based on 2600 K Calories energy per capita [2]. Hoekstra and Hung discussed that water should be considered as an economic good. They defined three different levels at which decisions can be made and improvements be achieved; local water use efficiency, water allocation efficiency and global water use efficiency [3] and [4]. Allan introduced “virtual water” in relation to water, food and their trades as the total volume of water used in the production process of commodity [5,6,7]
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