Research On Sustainable Crop Production In Yarkant River Basin Irrigated District Based On Water Footprint And Carbon Footprint

Yarkant River Basin Irrigated District is a significant cotton and grain development base located in Xinjiang,northwest China.The development of agriculture is crucial to both social stability and economic prosperity of the region.However,due to the arid climatic conditions as well as the growing population and economic development needs,the demand for environmental resources in agricultural production increased with each passing day.making the already fragile ecology of the irrigation district more severe challenges.How to achieve sustainable crop production has emerged as a critical issue for the new age of agricultural development in Yarkant River Basin Irrigation District as well as in arid regions.Based on water footprint and carbon footprint theories,this research examined the potential environmental impact and resource consumption characteristics of crop production in Yarkant River Basin Irrigation District.On this basis,Mann-Kendall mutation test was conducted on time series of water and carbon footprints,allowing the various stages of development process of agriculture to be delineated.The decoupling indexes of crop yield from water and carbon footprints were constructed at time scales of interannual and agricultural development stages.The elasticity relationship between production and ecological was resolved using these results.The influencing factors and intrinsic correlations of water and carbon footprint changes were dissected by Spearman correlation analysis based on the rate of change.The multi-objective optimization model for crop production was established and solved,providing effective data supports and scientific suggestions for the long-term mechanism of sustainable crop production in Yarkant River Basin Irrigation District and the arid regions of northwest China.Findings from the research revealed that:(1)During the period 2001 to 2020,the linear regression results of crop planting area and yield in Yarkant River Basin Irrigation District increased significantly,as did the water and carbon footprints of crop production.The occupation of environment and resource of crop production in the region was gradually rising.The blue water footprint made up the greatest percentage of the crop production water footprint(71.54%),followed by the grey water footprint(27.78%)and a very little amount of the green water footprint(0.68%).The carbon footprint induced by agricultural inputs accounted for the majority(62.99%),with soil nitrogen emissions accounting for the second largest(37.01%).It should be noted that nitrogen was the homologous pollutant primarily responsible for both grey water footprint and carbon footprint.(2)The development process of crop production in the region was divided into four stages over the passed 20-year period:2001-2004,2004-2008,2008-2014,and 2014-2020.Crop production was guided and propelled in large part by the policies.The decoupling status of crop yields from water and carbon footprints varied over time scales across years and stages of agricultural development,but all showed intimate connections between crop production and the occupation of environment and resource,indicating the need to improve crop production and ecology efficiencies.(3)The primary variables that increased water and carbon footprints were human activities during crop production in the irrigated region.The natural background limited crop production conditions,and the increase in agricultural production inputs in pursuit of yield caused a rapid increase in water and carbon footprints,resulting in an imbalance in the relationship between production and ecology,which led to secondary issues.The evaluation of the multi-objective optimization model production and ecology optimization model indicated that regional crop production can save water,reduce pollution,and decrease emissions while maintaining food security and improving economic efficiency.Therefore,agriculture of arid regions should transition from the rough production mode,standardize field management,while minimize excessive input and resource consumption in order to lessen ecological disturbance caused by crop production and promote high-quality growth of agriculture.Additionally,it ought to promote the moderate and intense production of crops in favorable farming regions.