Abstract
Traditional economic activities induce environmental pressures. In order to ensure sustainable economic growth, one needs to decouple it from the environmental pressures. Sustainable growth of the agricultural sector is topical in the sense that economic activity supports rural populations, whereas the resulting environmental pressures may affect diverse groups of population. Thus, the analysis of water footprint related to crop farming is important in the sense of efficient resource use and sustainable development of agriculture in general. In this paper, we focus on Lithuanian crop farming and the related green and grey water footprints. Specifically, we decompose the changes in the water footprints during 2000–2016 by exploiting the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index. Due to the expansion of the areas harvested, the scale effect appeared as an important driver of growth in green and grey water footprints. The shifts in spatial distribution of area harvested virtually had no influence on the dynamics in either of the water footprints. The crop-mix effect was much higher for the grey water footprint (51% over the period of 2000–2015) than it was the case for the green water footprint (21%). The yield growth induced growth in both green and grey water footprints.
Highlights
The focus on economic growth and sustainability has instigated the emergence of the concept of sustainability
We focus on Lithuanian crop farming and the related green and grey water footprints
Lithuanian agriculture has seen serious changes due to shifts in the economic conditions associated with the accession to the European Union (EU) in 2004
Summary
The focus on economic growth and sustainability has instigated the emergence of the concept of sustainability. Sustainable use of resources appears as an important direction for development of the whole economy and particular sectors (Song et al, 2019; Miao et al, 2019). The primary sector is responsible for sustainable use of multiple resources, both ma-. Water appears an important resource needed for both agricultural production and human needs (Aznar-Sánchez et al, 2019; Miglietta et al., 2018; Rosegrant et al, 2013; Chaudhry & Barbier, 2013; Arto et al, 2016). In order to adapt to the climate change, the modelling of water systems and economic activities is needed (Dainys et al, 2019; Schönhart et al, 2018)
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