دانلود رایگان مقاله بهره وری اقتصادی آب در طول زنجیره ارزش لبنیات در آفریقای جنوبی

Abstract

The global water scarcity situation is a major issue of concern to sustainable development and requires detailed assessment of water footprints and water productivities in all sectors of the economy. This paper has analysed economic water productivities along the dairy value chain in South Africa. The findings reveal that the value added to milk and water as it moves along the value chain varies from stage to stage; with the highest value being attained at the processing level, followed by the retail and farm gate levels, respectively. Milk production in South Africa is economically efficient in terms of water use. Feed production accounts for about 98.02% of the total water footprint of milk with 3.3% protein and 4% fat. Feed production is economically efficient in terms of cost and water use. Value addition to milk and economic productivity of water are influenced by packaging design. Not all economically water productive feed products are significant contributors to milk yield. Future ecological footprint assessments should take into account the value added to output products and economic water productivities along the products' value chain, rather than relying only on water footprint estimates.

4. Conclusions

The current global water scarcity situation and the pressure on governments, organisations, policy-makers, water-users and water managers to develop sustainable and economically efficient water-use policies require rigorous assessment of water footprints and water productivities in all sectors of the economy that use water. Water footprint assessment in the agriculture and food sectors has emerged as a vital sustainability indicator. The present paper has contributed to earlier water footprint studies in South Africa and Africa as a whole by adding the economic aspect of water use along the dairy value chain. The study focused on the economic productivity of water along the dairy value chain, starting from feed production to the final product. Our findings have important economic and efficient water use implications for actors along the dairy value chain. In terms of water use, we conclude that the highest proportion of water utilized along the dairy value chain goes into feed production. Different feed products have different water footprints. This suggests the need for water footprint assessment of different feed products to identify the ones that are higher users of the existing scarce water resources. Given the blue water scarcity situation in South Africa, our findings suggest that feed products such as lucerne hay, maize silage and sorghum silage are higher consumers of blue water resources. However, judging these products based on their water footprint estimates alone will be biased. Hence, our findings have highlighted the contributions of the feed products to milk output. Yellow maize meal, high protein concentrate and lucerne hay are the top three feed products with high contribution to milk output, respectively. Hence, dairy livestock producers should pay particular attention to these feed products when formulating ration for dairy cows, with the aim of attaining high milk yield, which in turn will lead to low water footprints, high value addition and economic water productivities. Although feed production uses the highest proportion of water along the dairy value chain, our assessment of value addition and economic water productivities of the feed products proves that the production of the feed products are economically efficient in terms of cost and water use. The economic implication of this finding is that the revenue attained from producing the feed crops and the value added to water along the dairy value exceeds the cost incurred. Hence, we conclude that dairy livestock farmers or producers are economically efficient in their production. The findings further provide vital information for livestock feed producers and marketers on the feed products which are more profitable, as our results indicate that the value added to the feed products vary from product to product. High economic values are associated with high protein concentrate, yellow maize meal, lucerne hay, and sorghum and maize silages, respectively. Of further importance from our study is the findings which point to the fact that not all economically water productive feed products are significant contributors to milk yield. Feed products such as yellow maize meal, high protein concentrate and lucerne hay appear to be very economical in terms of water and have high contribution to milk yield, with positive value addition. Maize silage has low economic water productivity and somewhat low contribution to milk yield and as such we suggest that dairy farmers can substitute it with a better option such as triticale silage which is known to have high contribution to milk yield and economically productive in terms of water use. This provide the rationale for profit-maximising dairy farmers with sustainable and efficient water use objectives to reconsider their dairy livestock feed formulation by incorporating more of the feed products with good contribution to milk output and economic water productivities.