Research on water needs and consumption, especially in the agricultural sector, has long been conducted by experts. Global water consumption has increased almost sevenfold compared to the last century (Gleick, 2000) and the agricultural sector has become the world\u2019s largest contributor to global freshwater consumption at 85 percent (Hoekstra and Chapagain, 2007).<\/p>\n
Naturally, in their process of growing and bearing fruits the agricultural commodities require water that can be consumed either directly or indirectly. However, among the many agricultural commodities in the world, oil palm plants are always accused of being the most wasteful plants in water use and are considered threatening the availability of water resources in areas where they are planted.<\/p>\n
To prove this accusation, it is necessary to look at the comparison of evapotranspiration levels in several plants. Coster’s research (1938) stated that the water requirement for oil palm plantations is only 1,104 mm per year (Figure 1).<\/p>\n
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Meanwhile, the large water requirement for bamboo and lamtoro plants is greater, reaching 3,000 mm per year, indicating that these two forest plants are classified as water-guzzling plants. The acacia plants require 2,400 mm per year, sengon 2,300 mm per year, pine and rubber around 1,300 mm per year. So far, pine, acacia and sengon plants have been popular as forest plants both in reforestation programs and industrial tree plantations. These forestry plants are relatively wasteful of water. Meanwhile, oil palm plants, which have been accused of being water-wasteful, are actually much more water-efficient than those forest plants. Even the oil palm is also more water efficient than rubber plants. When viewed from the portion of rainfall utilized by oil palm, Pasaribu et al., (2012) found that the percentage of rainfall used by oil palm is 40 percent of the annual rainfall. This percentage is smaller when compared to mahogany at 58 percent and pine at 65 percent (Figure 2).<\/p>\n
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Makonnen & Hoekstra (2010) conducted a study on the comparison of water requirements for agricultural commodities using the concept of “water footprint”. This concept can be defined as the total volume of water (freshwater) used by agricultural commodities to produce a product. In total, agricultural commodities with the largest percentage of global water footprint during the period 1996-2005 were wheat (15 percent), rice (13 percent) and corn (10 percent).<\/p>\n
The contribution of palm oil to the global water footprint was only 2 percent.<\/p>\n
The Water Footprint concept in Makonnen & Hoekstra’s (2010) study also uses three different definitions of water sources, namely: (a) Blue Water which refers to surface water and groundwater consumed (evaporation); (b) Green Water which refers to rainwater consumed; and (c) Grey Water refers to the water requirements needed to assimilate pollutants based on existing water quality standards, where Grey Water is also used as an indicator of the volume of water pollution.<\/p>\n
The largest global water footprint for agricultural commodities (Figure 3) is cloves at 61,205 m3\/ton, consisting of green water (98 percent) and grey water (2 percent). The water footprint for oil palm plants is only 1,097 m3\/ton, consisting of green water (96 percent) and grey water (4 percent). The water footprint for other vegetable oil commodities such as rapeseed is 2,270 m3\/ton (75 percent green water, 10 percent blue water and 15 percent grey water) and soybeans are 2,144 m3\/ton (95 percent green water, 3 percent blue water and 2 percent grey water).<\/p>\n
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Those facts show that the water requirement for oil palm plants is lower, meaning it is very efficient and saves water. Based on those researches, the source of water requirement for oil palm plants mostly comes from green water or rainwater. This fact also proves to refute the issue that oil palm plants threaten the availability of groundwater.<\/p>\n
OIL PALM A WATER-SAVING BIOENERGY SOURCE <\/strong><\/p>\n The development of renewable energy sources as an alternative to fossil fuels and to mitigate the impact of climate change is being intensively carried out across the globe. Agricultural commodities also have great bioenergy potential that is environmentally friendly. Related to the focus of this study, namely the water requirement for plants, research by Gerbens-Leenes et al., (2009) shows the second relationship, namely the water requirement for bioenergy-producing plants.<\/p>\n The most water-hungry bioenergy-producing plant is rapeseed oil, followed by coconut, cassava, corn, soybeans and sunflower plants. To produce each GJ of bioenergy (oil), rapeseed plants require 184 m3 of water.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, coconuts which are also widely produced in Indonesia, the Philippines, and India, require an average of 126 m3 of water. Cassava (ethanol producer) requires an average of 118 m3 of water. Soybeans, which are the main vegetable oil crop in the United States, require an average of 100 m3 of water.<\/p>\n This study also shows that palm oil is the most efficient (after sugar cane) in using water for every Giga Joule (GJ) of bioenergy produced (Table 1).<\/p>\n One of the renewable energy sources that is widely produced in various countries is biodiesel. Oil World data shows that the raw materials (feedstock) widely used by the world’s biodiesel industry are palm oil (33 percent), soybean oil (19 percent) and rapeseed oil (19 percent) (PASPI, 2019). The results of Makonnen & Hoekstra’s (2010) research also show the relationship between water requirements for various biodiesel feedstock commodities (Figure 4).<\/p>\n The study revealed that to produce 1 liter of biodiesel, the water requirement used by coconut as feedstock is 157.617 liters of water. Meanwhile, other feedstocks widely used by the world’s biodiesel industry such as sunflowers, soybeans and rapeseed also have relatively high water requirements to produce 1 liter of biodiesel, namely 15.841 liters of water, 11.397 liters of water, and 6.429 liters of water, respectively.<\/p>\n The water requirement used by palm oil to produce 1 liter of biodiesel is only 5,166 liters of water. This shows the fact that in addition to being able to produce environmentally friendly energy, palm oil also requires relatively lower water compared to other feedstocks.<\/p>\n The above facts have proven that oil palm is relatively water efficient in producing energy compared to other feedstocks and other agricultural commodities. The previous view that oil palm is wasteful of water is refuted by the results of this study. Besides water efficient, oil palm plants with their fibrous and massive root systems form natural bio-pores that function to store water and organic matter while increasing the ability of oil palm plantations to absorb\/retain water (water holding capacity) by increasing the infiltration of rainwater into the soil, thereby reducing surface water flow (run-off) and storing water reserves in the soil.<\/p>\n CONCLUSION<\/strong><\/p>\n The accusation that oil palm is a water-wasting plant is one of the black campaigns that is widely used to inhibit the development of palm oil and to weaken its competitiveness at local and global markets.<\/p>\n Based on research conducted by looking at the level of evapotranspiration, the water requirement for oil palm plantations is only 1,104 mm per year or lower than bamboo, lamtoro, acacia, sengon, pine and rubber. The percentage of rainfall used by oil palm is also lower than mahogany and pine.<\/p>\n Based on the global water footprint for the period 1996-2005, it shows that the percentage of water consumption needed by oil palm globally is only 2 percent or 1,097 m3\/ton, while cereal crops (such as wheat, rice, corn) and soybeans have a water footprint percentage ranging from 5-15 percent. When viewed from the source of water needs for oil palm, it shows that most of it comes from green water or rainwater. This fact shows that oil palm is a water-efficient plant and does not exploit groundwater\/surface water.<\/p>\n Palm oil is also proven as one of the environmentally friendly renewable energy sources and is also classified as the most water-efficient plant to produce energy compared to other feedstocks. The water requirement for palm oil is only 75 m3 of water to produce one Giga Joule (GJ) of bioenergy. To produce 1 liter of biodiesel, the water requirement used by palm oil is only 5.166 liters of water or lower than the water requirement for coconut, rapeseed, and soybeans. (*)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n REFERENCES:<\/strong><\/p>\n Coster, C. 1938. Superficial Run-off and Erosion on Java. Tecnona.<\/em> 31 : 613-728.<\/p>\n Gerbens-Leenes, Hoekstra P. Van der Meer, T. 2009: The Water Footprint of Energy from Biomass: a Quantitative Assessment and Consequences of an Increasing Share of Bioenergy Supply. Ecological Economics<\/em> 68 (4): 1052- 1060.<\/p>\n Gleick PH. 2000. The Changing Water Paradigm: A look at Twenty First Century Water Resources Development. Water International.<\/em> 25 (1): 127-138.<\/p>\n Hoekstra AY, Chapagain AK. 2007. Water Footprint of Nation: Water User by People as a Function of Their Consumption Pattern. Water Resources Management.<\/em> 21 (1): 35-48.<\/p>\n Mekonnen M. M and A.Y. Hoekstra. 2010. The Green, Blue And Grey Water Footprint Of Crops And Derived Crop Products.<\/em> UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education<\/p>\n Pasaribu, H., A. Mulyadi and S. Tarumun. 2012. Neraca Air di Perkebunan Kelapa Sawit di PPKS Sub Unit Kalianta Kabun Riau (The Water Balance in Oil Palm Plantations in Kalianta Kabun Unit Riau).<\/em> Ejournal.unri.ac.id\/960-1908-1- SM.pdf.<\/p>\n PASPI. 2019. Kontribusi Minyak Sawit dalam Industri Biodiesel Global (Palm Oil Contribution in Global Biodiesel Industry). Monitor.<\/em> 5(31): 1603-1610<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" JAKARTA \u2013 After being incriminated as the cause of deforestation, the oil palm plantations are also accused of being not ecofriendly and potential to cause drought and desertification. Even the oil palm trees are often stigmatized as a water-wasting plant and threatens the water resources in areas where they are planted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29191,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":70,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","neve_meta_reading_time":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3708,3709],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-publication","category-recent-news"],"yoast_head":"\n![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gapki.id\/allies\/uploads\/2020\/05\/tabel_1_kebutuhan_air_untuk_menghasilkan_1_g_joule.jpg?resize=1200%2C451&ssl=1\")
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