Regional agricultural water footprint and crop water consumption study in yellow river basin, China

Abstract

The 12 main crops in the Yellow River Basin were selected as the research objects. Based on crop water consumption and effective precipitation, the regional crop water consumption and agricultural water footprint of the Yellow River Basin are studied. The results showed that the distribution of crop water consumption in the Yellow River Basin was similar to that of the annual average precipitation. Irrigation affected the data distribution in some areas. The areas with high crop water consumption value were mainly concentrated in the irrigation areas along the Yellow River. Rain-fed agriculture was dominant in other areas, and crop water consumption was relatively small. The total crop water consumption in the Yellow River Basin was 84.25 billion m3 in 2017, 66% of which is in Henan and Shandong provinces and 60% is for wheat and maize. The proportion of green water to crop water consumption in the Yellow River Basin was 78.7%. The spatial distribution of green water consumption in crops was basically the same as that of crop water consumption. The agricultural water footprint of the Yellow River Basin is 49.45 billion m3, accounting for 58.7% of the crop water consumption. The proportion of green water consumption to total water consumption of most crops is more than 80%, and the lowest is 58% for wheat. 56% of blue water in the river basin is used for wheat. Crop water consumption coefficient reflects the level of water use in production. The average crop water consumption coefficient in the Yellow River Basin is about 0.622 m3/kg.