Water Use Efficiency and Sensitivity Assessment for Agricultural Production System from the Water Footprint Perspective

Weiwei Wang, Jigan Wang and Xinchun Cao
Additional contact information
Weiwei Wang: Business School, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China
Jigan Wang: Business School, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China
Xinchun Cao: College of Agricultural Science and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 22, 1-17

Abstract: The increasing shortage of water resources and the growing demand for crops make water use efficiency a decisive factor for the sustainable and healthy development of the agricultural system. In order to evaluate agricultural water use efficiency from the water footprint perspective, the current study constructed the comprehensive water efficiency (CWE) index based on eight single agricultural water use efficiency performance parameters. The water resources utilization and efficiency in the wheat production system of China from 2006 to 2015 were analyzed and the sensitivity of single indices for CWE was identified. The results show that the national crop water footprint (CWF) for wheat production was estimated to be, including 46.3% blue, 36.6% green and 17.0% blue components, respectively. The spatial distribution patterns of water use efficiency performance indices were different. CWE of the country was 0.387, showing an upward trend over time and decreased from the southeast to the northwest geographically. Crop water productivity (CWP), productive water ratio (PWR) and rainwater consumption ratio (RCR) turned out to be the first three sensitive parameters for CWE in China. The improvement of China’s overall CWE relied on reducing inefficient blue-green water use and increasing the output capacity for per unit water. Advanced agricultural water-saving technologies were in high need for goal achievement, especially for the Huang-Huai-Hai plain, which held more than 70% of Chinese wheat production and CWF. The results provide support for efficient utilization and sustainable development of water resources in the agricultural system.

Keywords: water footprint; blue-green water; evaluation index; sensitivity analysis; sustainable agriculture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/22/9665/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/22/9665/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:22:p:9665-:d:447862

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().