Water Footprints of Philippine Agricultural Products

Abstract

 Compared to the usual measuring of national water usage using water withdrawals from the different sectors, the use of water footprint as a tool for calculating water usage provide more insights on the efficiency of the use of freshwater resources. Various water footprints of Philippine agricultural products were calculated together with the corresponding energy water productivity. The findings in this paper also showed that the Philippine per capita water requirement for food (CWRF) is significantly higher compared to other developing countries since it needs more water to produce a food item and affects the total water usage as shown in total water requirement (TWRF). In terms of TWRF, the computed data indicates that it will continuously increase in the next four decades and will become a big factor in determining water sustainability. This paper recommends that water scarcity should be identified and be recognized as a major threat to sustainable development besides population growth and externalities of uncontrolled economic growth. Accurate identification of the “blue” "green,” and “gray” water” components of food production will help in the formulation of appropriate strategies in water productivity and its efficient use.

Keywords: energy water productivity, water footprint, water management, food security, sustainability