Carbon Footprint and Driving Forces of Saline Agriculture in Coastally Reclaimed Areas of Eastern China: A Survey of Four Staple Crops

Jianguo Li, Wenhui Yang, Yi Wang, Qiang Li, Lili Liu and Zhongqi Zhang
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Jianguo Li: School of Geography, Geomatics, and Planning, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China
Wenhui Yang: School of Geography, Geomatics, and Planning, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China
Yi Wang: Department of Geography and School of Global Studies, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RH, UK
Qiang Li: School of Geography, Geomatics, and Planning, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China
Lili Liu: School of Geography, Geomatics, and Planning, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China
Zhongqi Zhang: School of Geography, Geomatics, and Planning, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, China

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-16

Abstract: Carbon emissions have always been a key issue in agricultural production. Due to the specific natural factors in the soil of saline agriculture, there are distinctive characteristics in saline agricultural production as compared with traditional agricultural zones. Here, we have adopted the theory of life cycle assessment and employed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) greenhouse gas (GHG) field calculation to estimate the GHG emissions, derived from the staple crop productions (i.e., barley, wheat, corn and rice). In addition, our study further analyzed the main driving forces of carbon emissions and proposed some effective measures to reduce them. Our results have showed that: (1) carbon footprint from the four crops in the study area varies from 0.63 to 0.77 kg CO 2 eq·kg −1 , which is higher than that from traditional agriculture; (2) GHG emissions from Fertilizer-Nitrogen (N) manufacture and inorganic N application have contributed to the greatest percentage of carbon footprint. Compared with traditional agricultural zones, fertilizer-N application and paddy irrigation involved with crop productions have overall greater contributions to carbon footprint; (3) carbon emissions from saline agriculture can be reduced significantly by planting-breeding combination to reduce the amount of N fertilizer application, improving the traditional rotation system, and developing water-saving agriculture and ecological agriculture.

Keywords: saline agriculture; coastally reclaimed area; staple crops; life cycle assessment; carbon footprint; Greenhouse Gas Emissions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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