Virtual Reality (of water)

 What do we mean by the concept ‘virtual water’? 

The term virtual water refers to the volume of water required to produce agricultural commodities (Allan, 1998). Allan indeed introduced the concept which stemmed from Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage – trade allows increased production and thus, consumption as each country specializes production in exporting goods in which it has a comparative advantage (Zella and Smadhi, 2020). Simply put, virtual water is an idea stemming from this generic theory though in a narrower field (Allen, 2003), importing commodities from an abundant country to a country whereby resources are scarce (Hoekstra and Hung, 2004). Thus, agricultural importing countries effectively purchase water from exporting countries which leads to water-saving potential (Allan, 1998).

 

Trade of virtual water reduces water use. For example, one kilo of cereal required between 500 and 4,000 litres of crop water in production. Thus, by importing cereal from a more water efficient exporter, water savings occur. It is estimated that the cereal trade alone reduces global water depletion by 6% (Allen, 2003).

 

Cereal used as an example is salient for the following discussion within this blog post. I will now turn to focus on the situation virtual water in Algeria providing reasoning for the need to import embedded water. Additionally, the potential ‘curse’ of reliance on trade of agricultural commodities will be touched upon (Zella and Smadhi, 2020). 

 

Virtual water in Algeria

 

Groundwater reserves in Algeria are estimated to be 6.8 billion m³. However, this figure should not be thrown about wildly since groundwater lies at significant depths and are subject to mineralization and fluoride contamination. Similarly, climatic conditions mean rivers frequently run dry (Sekkoum et al., 2012). Moreover, the Algerian diet for years, has been characterised by cereals however, limitation of water and land due to climatic conditions means cereal production cannot keep pace with population growth (Zella and Smadhi, 2020). Durum wheat production varies between 3 and 5 million tonnes which amounts to just one-third of requirements (FAO, 2013). Therefore, for this reason Algeria has become one of the largest wheat importers globally (Zella and Smadhi, 2020). The map below shows the virtual water import of agricultural commodities to African countries.

Figure 1: Virtual Water Import from import of cereal, oil, and sugar

Source: El-Sadek, 2011

The volume of food imports is an indicator of the scale of the water deficit of importing countries. Thus, it is clear from the graph that Algeria is indeed water stressed (El-Sadek, 2011). This is the case for the whole continent since Africa is the lowest agri-food exporter with the lowest virtual water outflows (Schwarz et al., 2015). It is also a reflection on the worsening situation in Africa if agricultural imports increase – which is the case, since 1980, net food imports have increased at a rate of 3.4% per annum (FAO, 2011).

 

Should virtual water be given the evil eye in Algeria?

 

Despite openness of a country to virtual water trade decreasing undernourishment (Caylor, 2013), trade of virtual water should be viewed with caution. Cereal imports can decrease the productivity of the agricultural sector by lacking to promote an economy of effort due to import addiction encouraged by the capitalist nature of international institutions (Zella and Smadhi, 2020). 

 

An earlier blog post discussed the post-colonialism legacy on water and food in Africa. This blog post throws light upon the continued legacy of post-colonialism with the table below demonstrating Algeria’s overreliance on food imports.

Figure 2: Cereal production, needs, areas and imports in Algeria

Source: Zella and Smadhi, 2020

Cereal production declined every year, moreover, needs and imports increased 8.7% and 37.5% respectively, demonstrating the increasing dependence on gluttonous exporting countries. Meanwhile a vicious circle of unproductivity of agriculture of importing countries such as Algeria, continues to categorise world markets thus, hindering agricultural development and hence, penalizing economic growth (Zella and Smadhi, 2020).

 

Moreover, since Algeria’s water source is ‘blue’ (derived from rivers, lakes, dams, and aquifers). Similarly, use of blue water has an appreciably higher opportunity cost (Dabrowski et al., 2008). 40 million Algerian’s require 100 Mq of cereals per annum however, the country produces between 30 to 50 Mq/year totalling a deficit of 60% (Zella and Smadhi, 2020). Therefore, I argue that despite the problems of overreliance on imports it is in Algeria’s favour to import agricultural commodities thus, engage in trade of virtual water due to the severe magnitude of the deficit and worsening climatic conditions previous blog posts have touched upon.