The water footprint of coffee production in Miraflor, Nicaragua

Abstract: A water footprint is a tool for assessing the impacts of freshwater use by mapping the water use of the production of a good or a service, a process in a production chain, a business or even of a whole country. One of the most commonly used methods for calculating the water footprint was developed by the Water Footprint Network (WFN). The objective of this study was to account for the water footprint of the production of coffee in the area of Miraflor, Nicaragua, using the WFN method. The study aimed to highlight where improvements can be made regarding water resources management, both with respect to the quantity of the water appropriated in the different process steps, as well as concerning the treatment of residues of the coffee production. The results of the study show a water footprint of 20 049 m3 per ton of harvested coffee in Miraflor. This equals a consumption of more than 6 000 000 m3 of water when considering the overall production of the harvest of 2015/2016. The results pinpoint the growing phase as crucial with 98.1 % of the total water footprint. Nicaragua and the region where Miraflor is located are having increasing problems with water scarcity due to drought and contamination of water resources. Together with these circumstances, the results of the study show that the current management should be improved in order to minimize the impacts on local water resources and the environment. It is mainly the application of pesticides and fertilizers in the cultivation of the coffee that give rise to the large water footprint. Furthermore, the current management violates the law restricting the discharge of effluent waters from coffee processing plants. Another important factor contributing to the water footprint yields in the consumption of rainwater via evapotranspiration by the crops in field. In order to reduce the water footprint there should be a more conscious use of pesticides and fertilizers as well as a development in the treatment of the effluent water. The latter factor can be elaborated by considering new installations where even smaller ones probably could make a considerable change. Other management practices to decrease the water footprint consist of generating a higher yield per hectare of land.