To study the water footprint of Harumanis in Perlis

Abstract

This study assesses the water footprint (WF) of Harumanis in Perlis. The water footprint is the process to evaluate the value of freshwater embodied in each ton of crop produce. Water footprint is divided into three components which is green water is refers to the total rainwater evapotranspiration from farms, blue water refers to the water evaporated through plant growth comes from surface or groundwater and grey water refers to the pollutant load divided by the difference between the maximum acceptable concentration in the receiving water body. By identified the system boundaries process of Harumanis production that related to water consumption the total WF will be calculate using CROPWAT 8.0 software and manually formula by Hoesktra, 2011 based on manual guideline for water footprint. On average the total water footprint for crop water requirement option is 3827 m3/ton. The result for green water footprint is 2234 m3/ton, blue water 1183 m3/ton and grey water value is 410 m3/ton. For irrigation schedule option, the total water footprint is 3819 m3/ton. Green water footprint is the highest among others with the value 2363 m3/ton, followed by blue water 1046 m3/ton and grey water is 410 m3/ton. In this research, climatic data from Meteorology Department is used to quantify the WF for Bukit Bintang 1, Agriculture Centre Harumanis Plantation. Measuring and accounting for the use of water and related effects on appropriate time and spatial scales, can provide transparent information to improve water efficiency and develop strong corporate water strategy. Therefore, this study of a water footprint is a good project and it is very useful to achieve Good Agriculture Practices in agriculture sectors.