Estimation of water requirement and water use efficiency in typical dairy farms in Bangladesh

Water use in typical dairy farm

Abstract

The objective of this study was to estimate the different ways of water use to calculate water use efficiency (WUE) in dairy production system and to identify the main drivers of water use efficiency (WUE) in Bangladesh typical dairy farming system. The International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN) methodology. The IFCN method consists of three pillars: Typical Farm Approach (TFA), Technology Impact Policy Impact Calculations (TIPICAL) model and Networking approach. Using the IFCN panel approach, two typical farms were selected: BD-2 cow farm (Bangladesh 2 cow farm) and BD-14 cow farm (Bangladesh 14 cow farm). These two typical farms were modelled using the IFCN global water footprint model, the water footprint model is built within the TIPICAL model. The results showed that average water requirement for one kg milk production is 2400 liters of which 98% of the water use used through feeds and fodder. About 2% water is used through drinking water and service water. the water use efficiency of BD-2 and BD-14 are 0.22 and 0.26, respectively. Finally, small-scale production farm (BD-2) needs more water requirement/kg of milk as they rear small number of animals with low productivity than large scale typical farming system (BD-14) with high productivity. The finding of this study clearly revealed that increasing milk productivity and effective use of the feeds and fodder are the main ways to be efficient in water use and thus can reduce the pressure on water for milk production.