SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, September 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The magazine ‘Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems’ of the University of Cambridge has published an article whose main author is the researcher Noelia Cruz Pérez, from the Department of Agricultural and Natural Environment Engineering, in which the main crops of the Canary Islands are analyzed taking into account its water footprint (HH) and which reveals that banana cultivation consumes about 340 cubic meters of water per ton, while that of avocado is 1,741.
As the researcher explains, it is vital to carry out studies on the water footprint of the main crops, in order to identify the irrigation practices of local agriculture and be able to establish recommendations for saving water by improving these practices since they can now be develop useful water saving strategies for the sector based on the estimation of WF with yield data and net water needs of crops.
Cruz Pérez warns in a note from the ULL that the HH should not be used as a tool to compare different regions, since evapotranspiration and precipitation in different areas change drastically.
Thus, it can be used to improve water use and reduce water use in specific areas where it has been calculated.
These values can serve as a tool to reduce water use in the future by improving irrigation systems and using technologies that allow for more efficient use of water.
However, he points out that more studies are needed to improve the model’s predictions, with more data from different years and more plots, especially in avocado crops.
The article, which is also signed by Professor Juan Carlos Santamarta, from the University of La Laguna, and Carlos Álvarez Acosta, from the Canary Institute of Agricultural Research, is part of a broader research project called Research on the Ecological Footprint in the Canary Islands. (IHEC), within which a specific volume on this subject has also been published, entitled ‘The water footprint and the carbon footprint of agricultural activity in the Canary Islands’.
