The water footprint of livestock production system and livestock products: A dark area: A review

Abstract

The water footprint concept is an indicator of water use in relation to consumer goods. The water footprint of a product is the volume of freshwater used to produce the product measured over the various steps of the production chain. In research showed that about 27% of the water footprint of humanity is related to the production of animal products. Only 4% of the water footprint of humanity related to the water use at home. A water footprint mostly breaks down into 3 components: the blue, green, and grey water footprints. The water footprint of an animal at the end of its life time can be calculated based on the water footprint of all feed consumed during its lifetime and volume of water consumed for drinking and other uses. There are two major determining factors in water footprint of animal product feed conversion efficiency and composition of feed eaten by the animal in different livestock production system such as grazing and industrial system. The water footprint of various feed ingredient are estimated by using a high resolution grid-based crop water use model. The increase in consumption in the consumption of animal product is likely to put further pressure on the world fresh water resources. The average water footprint per calorie for beef is 20 times larger than for cereal. On an average 37% of cereal production in the world were used for animal feed. To meet the rising demand for animal products, the ongoing shift from traditional system, extensive and mixed to industrial farming system is likely to continue. Therefore the issue of wise water governance is a shared responsibility of consumer, government, businesses and investors.