Estimating Green and Blue Water Footprint of Major Cereal and Vegetable Crops in Salale Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

Abstract

To attain effective utilization of water in different sectors, understanding and applying the new concept of water management tools like water footprint analysis is mandatory. Hence, this study aims to estimate green and blue water footprint for selected major cereal and vegetable crops in Salale Zone. Ten year (2011–2020) climatic, crop yield, and cultivated area data were collected. Green and blue water footprints (m³/ton), average water footprint per-kilogram of each crops product (m³/kg), and their Zonal level total water footprints (m³/ton) were estimated. The results indicated that both green and blue water footprint was greater than benchmark value for each considered crops though blue water was highly utilized in the Zone for production of vegetable crops than cereal. At Zonal level, average total water footprint for the major crops was estimated to 14,417.35 m³/ton from which 86% accounts for cereal. From the comparison of average Zonal water footprint with the benchmark, the estimated values for each crop was higher than the benchmark which indicated less efficient utilization of green and blue water. Hence, for effective management and utilization of water, applying the concept of water footprint is essential to account water use in production of a given crop.