Data for: Land and water footprints associated with rice and maize losses in Brazil
Description
Food loss and waste (FLW) implies loss of valuable natural resources and, consequently, has a negative impact on economic, environmental and social issues globally. Brazil, as a prominent world food producer, presents high levels of food losses and, hence, loss/waste of natural resources. This study aims to estimate the amount of land and water footprints associated with rice and maize losses in Brazil. The investigation involved the analysis of annual data obtained from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE) regarding planted area, harvest area, production and loss of rice and maize in Brazil from 1988 to 2017, in order to estimate the amount of land and water footprints of rice and maize losses. Rice loss in Brazil is responsible for an average annual land footprint (LF) of 400 thousand hectares with a negative trend (slope) of 13.8 thousand hectares per year, while maize loss in Brazil is responsible for an average annual LF of 1.26 million hectares with a negative trend (slope) of 7.9 thousand hectares per year. The average annual LF of rice loss is about 11.46% of rice planted area, and the average annual LF of maize loss is about 9.34% of maize planted area in Brazil. Rice loss is associated with an average annual water footprint (WF) of 3.06 billion m3, while maize loss is associated with an average annual WF of 7.37 billion m3. The average annual WF per hectare of planted area for maize and rice losses is 533 m3/ha and 949 m3/ha, respectively. The results reinforce the need for promoting actions to drastically reduce FLW worldwide. This study encourages more drastic public policies to be adopted in order to reduce FLW and, consequently, the waste of natural resources and environmental impacts.