Spatial Pattern of Water Footprints for Crop Production in Northeast China

Zhihui Li, Haowei Wu and Xiangzheng Deng ()
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Zhihui Li: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Haowei Wu: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Xiangzheng Deng: Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 20, 1-13

Abstract: Water is an important resource for crop production; identifying the spatial pattern of the crop water footprint (WF) is of great significance for the optimization of water resource consumption and management in agricultural production. This study quantified the green, blue and grey water footprints (GWF, BWF and GRWF) and water consumption (GWC, BWC and GRWC) of rice, maize and soybean at the 1 km grid level and city level in Northeast China in 2019 based on the CROPWAT 8.0 model. The results showed that the average total water footprints of rice (TWFr), maize (TWFm) and soybean (TWFs) were 624.31 m 3 ·ton −1 , 527.26 m 3 ·ton −1 and 1298.21 m 3 ·ton −1 , respectively. The spatial differences in the WF of each crop were obvious in Northeast China, with the highest values of TWFr mainly occurring in Baicheng, Dalian and Qitaihe; the highest TWFm values were mainly found in Baicheng, Yingkou and Hulundao, and the highest TWFs were mainly found in Baicheng, Chifeng and Tongliao. The total water consumption of all three crops (TWCc) in Northeast China was 94 billion m 3 ·yr −1 (42% green, 26% blue and 32% grey), in which the total water consumption of maize production (TWCm) accounted for 60%. The production of rice, maize and soybean in Northeast China mainly depends on green water, grey water and blue water, respectively. Combining the results of the spatial patterns of crop TWF and TWC, the study revealed that the planting pattern of crops in Northeast China was relatively reasonable for sustainable water use. Meanwhile, cities that have the potential to enhance crop production and cities that should improve their water use efficiency and reduce fertilizer application were also identified.

Keywords: crop water footprint; water consumption; rice, maize and soybean; grid level; Northeast China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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