Water footprint: part 1- production of oil palm seedlings in Peninsular Malaysia
2014
Nik Sasha Khatrina Khairuddin | Vijaya Subramaniam | Choo, Y. M. | Halimah Muhamad | Zulkifli Hashim
The oil palm nursery is the first link in the palm oil supply chain where oil palm seedlings are produced for the cultivation of palms in plantations. The water footprint for this study focuses on the volume of water required for the production of oil palm seedlings in Malaysia, which include direct and indirect water consumption. This study was carried out at 21 nurseries in Peninsular Malaysia for the duration of four years. In this study, the water footprint is expressed as water volume per unit of the product, i.e. m3 t-1 fresh fruit bunch (FFB). This article outlines the components of water footprint which are associated with the production of oil palm seedlings. The methodology used to calculate water footprint for the production of oil palm seedlings was based on water footprint network. The results showed that the direct blue water footprint was 1.57E-01 m3 t-1 FFB, contributed by irrigation water using sprinklers and also the water used for pesticides application. The total indirect blue water footprint contributed by all the inputs such as diesel, electricity and polybags was 1.46E-04 m3 t-1 FFB. Green and grey water footprint was found to be 3.10E-01 and 1.83E-03 m3 t-1 FFB, respectively. From the analysis, it was found that the water footprint for the production of oil palm seedlings were 1.57E-01, 3.10E-01 and 1.83E-03 m3 t-1 FFB for the blue, green and grey components, respectively. Therefore, it could be concluded that the volume of polluted water (grey water footprint) associated with the production of oil palm seedlings was very minimal.
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