New Zealand kiwfruit marketer Zespri International has found it takes 42 litres of water to produce one green kiwifruit.
The discovery was made as part of a comprehensive water footprint investigation carried out by Zespri to follow up its carbon footprint study two years ago. Just 2l of the figure came from irrigation, while 36l is from rainwater and moisture retained in the vines’ root zone.
The research was completed by Landcare Research, Plant & Food Research and AgriLink New Zealand and co-funded by Zespri and the NZ Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. As it is the first such study of its kind in New Zealand, it also has the aim of developing a method for measuring the environmental impact of the water footprint of other products.
Dr David Tanner, general manager quality and innovation at Zespri said: “It makes good business sense to identify the eco-efficient advantages that come from reducing our total water footprint. This means Zespri is future-proofing itself as customers become increasingly focused on the water footprint of the products they purchase.
“…This type of research is increasingly gaining international recognition with several different methods being developed in parallel. For Zespri, being involved in the study is both an important step for our own understanding of these different methods, as well as making a contribution to global knowledge on water use.”
