Sustainable Application of Livestock Water Footprints in Different Beef Production Systems of South Africa

There is an increase in requirement and competition for water, while water resources are decreasing at an accelerating rate. Agriculture is the biggest consumer of water and therefore has the largest water footprint, which is not yet known. The largest portion is acknowledged to be for producing animal products. Water footprints account for the amounts of water used to produce a commodity for consumption, measured along the commodity life cycle. Water withdrawals from surface and groundwater are accounted for when assessing the water footprint. The three identified major determinants of a water footprint of meat include feed conversion efficiency (FCE), feed composition, and feed origin, with the first two being influenced greatly by the animal production system. In South Africa (SA), the two distinct production systems are the intensive and extensive production systems. Intensifying beef animals improves FCE due to faster growths per kg feed consumed, reduced activity, and therefore reduced water footprint. Beef cattle in the extensive system consume a large component of roughages, while the intensive system has a high concentrate to roughage ratio. This theoretically increases the water footprint in the intensive system. The literature indicates large amounts of volumetric water footprint indicators of boneless beef in SA. Water footprint assessment is critical for enabling consumers to make well-informed and sound decisions when considering changes in their behavior due to the effect this has on social, economic, and environmental wellbeing. This paper aims to postulate the various issues associated with water usage in beef production. These include factors affecting the water footprint of beef production and the effects it has on various aspects of both the environment and social wellbeing. It further explores the various methods to assess the water footprint of a product.