Food export and virtual water trade of Türkiye in the context of climate change

Although Turkiye is already experiencing water scarcity, the water resources are decreasing even more due to the impact of climate change. To meet the growing demand, there is a need for more effective water management by making use of the WF and virtual water trade concepts. When we look at the virtual water trade of Turkiye, besides the crops with low WF, the water-thirsty crops are also being exported because their economic return is high. With the export of agricultural products, Türkiye also exports water virtually. When the virtual water exports of the selected crops examined, it can be perceived that the exported virtual water is equivalent to the domestic water needs of Istanbul for almost 7 years. To use water resources more efficiently, attention should be given to the concept of WF in exported agricultural products. The WF of the production of apricots in Malatya, which has an important place in exports and economic value, has been examined as a case study. According to the calculations, while the global green WF is 694 (m3/ton), Malatya's long-term average green WF is 311 (m3/ton). Besides, the blue WF is 502 (m3/ton) globally and 3283 (m3/ton) in Malatya. It has been seen that the blue WF of apricot production in Malatya is very high when compared to the global WF. The fact that apricot production is highly dependent on irrigation water has a negative impact on the water resources in the region. For this reason, more efficient irrigation methods should be used to reduce irrigation water in production and the blue WF should be minimized for the sustainability of water resources.