Water footprint assessment of cattle milk at smallholder farms

Abstract

With the huge cattle population and poor production management system in the country, environment can be affected by negative factors, including: shortage of water and pollution of water bodies. In context to this problem, a study was performed to estimate Water Footprint (WF) in Hisar district of Haryana from cattle’s milk. The information about animal’s ration and watering, crops cultivation, irrigation system, etc. was collected by interviewing 50 male farmers (purposive sampling) rearing cattle at smallholder farm, followed by multistage sampling. For estimation of WF of milk, methodology suggested by Water Footprint Network was relied. Both blue and green water estimations were made using both primary and secondary data. The Water Footprint was estimated as 1391.37 Lt. water/ Lt. milk. The indirect blue water constituted major water use with direct water use being estimated as 134.03 Lt./day/lactating animal. The findings of the present article might prepare foundation for other research in future that examine the cause of multi-functionality upon the WF of milk produced at smallholder farms across the country. Sustainable dairy farming may benefit from the WF approach to measuring the amount of water used in milk production. In order to get more accurate readings of the WF of milk, more research will be directed toward the enhancement of the evaluation, which will take into account aspects such as sensitivity analysis, data sources quality, and so on.