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High potentials of water and land efficiency in agricultural production and trade for rich food supply by Central Asia
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  • Yilin Liu,
  • La Zhuo,
  • Olli Varis,
  • Kai Fang,
  • Gang Liu,
  • Pute Wu
Yilin Liu
Northwest A&F University
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La Zhuo
Northwest A&F University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Olli Varis
Aalto University
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Kai Fang
Zhejiang University
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Gang Liu
University of Southern Denmark
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Pute Wu
Northwest A&F University
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Abstract

Besides posing soaring pressure on water and land resources, the ever-intensifying agricultural production redistributes these pressures trough increasingly intensive trade. Environmental consequences are complicated and unprecedented, and postulate thorough scrutiny. Little attention is paid to developing regions which are small nodes in global trade however of visible gaps in water and land productivities. Here we evaluate, among five Central Asian nations (CANs) and China, the water and land footprints, virtual water and land trades, as well as potentials in enhancing water and land efficiency related to agricultural production and trade. We find that the blue water footprint and land footprint per unit product in CANs were up to 61- and 17-times higher than in China. Through enhancing water and land efficiency without further intervention in water and land endowments, the scenario for CANs shows an additional food supply for feeding 387 million people or half the starving population in the world.