OC-11.3: Biophysical water productivity (Advanced)
- Enrico Bonaiuti
Definition: This indicator will measure crop and/or livestock output per unit of water consumed. The indicator shall consider consider the volumes of water used and its sources, i.e rainfall, irrigation (whether from surface water or groundwater) and water balance or virtual water for crop and livestock respectively.
Unit of Measure: kilograms per cubic meter (kg/m3)
Disaggregated by: Production system, Main crop/livestock, geographic location (national, sub-national)
Production system: Crop, livestock, integrated crop-livestock
If crop or integrated crop-livestock system:
Main crop: Chickpea, lentil, faba beans, grass pea, spring barley, winter barley, durum wheat, spring bread wheat
Soil type: Heavy, light
Crop management: Good management, poor management
Good management practice: Break crops, summer weed control, early sowing, wider rows, irrigation timing/deficit irrigation regime, disease control, sub-soil manuring
Production/input system: Rain-fed only, mainly irrigated, mainly rain-fed with limited irrigation
Output estimation method: Whole plot harvest, crop cut method, farmer recall, farmer prediction, sampling of harvest units, expert assessment, crop diary and crop diary with telephone calls, crop cards, crop modelling
Main livestock: Goats, sheep, cattle
Method of Calculation:
WUP=Crop output (kg)Evapotranspiration (m3)
Evapotranspiration=Rainfall m3+Irrigationm3-Evaporation m3+Drainage m3+[Soil water content at sowing m3-Soil water content at harvest m3]
WUPLivestock=Livestock output as either milk or meat (kg)Rainfall m3+Surface water m3+Ground water m3+Virtual water
WUPIntegrated=Average (WUPcrop; WUPLivestock)
The basic considerations for computing the advanced form of water productivity are as stated in indicator OC-11.2. In addition, this indicator measures the net water used for crop growth through evapotranspiration and for livestock (or integrated systems) including virtual water, i.e water ingested by livestock from off-farm feed supply.
Data sources: Farm households, weather stations
Data collection method: Farm household surveys, routine recording of weather information at metreological stations, document review
Additional data collection notes:
In addition to the data stated in OC-11.2, collect data on: Soil water content, water use/loss, soil evaporation losses, and evapotranspiration.
Crop-specific data collection notes:
In addition to the measures stated in OC-11.2, measure soil moisture before seeding and at harvest at 3 different soil depths 0-30 cm, 30-60 cm and 60-90 cm; Calculate soil evaporation loss during the cropping season.
Livestock-specific data collection notes: In addition to the variables measured in OC-11.2, obtain data on:
Off-farm feed resources such as dietary rations (forage and concentrate) consumed by lactating cows and growing calves.
The equivalent virtual water corresponding to off-farm feed resources (mainly cereal grains and bran)- calculated based on conversion factors from reputable publications.
Data collection and reporting responsibility: Program leader, project leader, project M&E focal point person
Data Collection and Reporting Frequency: Annual, bi-annual, baseline, mid-term, end-term.
Evidence required:
For internal evaluation or research studies: Study protocol, data collection tools, dataset, report;
For external evaluation or research studies: Request for proposals (RFP) document, final report, dataset
Rationale: Information generated by tracking this indicator will be useful in understanding the benefits that accrue from ICARDA'S work of identify and promotion of genotypes with better water-use efficiency and the associated agronomic and/or livestock management practices. In addition, the measurement of this indicator for integrated crop-livestock systems will provide insight on the complementarity between the two systems promoted for ensuring farming sytems resilience.
Comments and limitations: