High potentials of water and land efficiency in agricultural production
and trade for rich food supply by Central Asia
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.