Decomposition of the water footprint of food loss and waste: The case of Lithuanian supply chains

Food production has significant impacts on the environment, particularly in terms of water usage. Losing food along the supply chain means that all resources, including water, used to produce that food are wasted. Through the lens of the water footprint, this paper expands the scope of water resource assessment by looking at the blue, green, and grey water footprints associated with food losses along the supply chain. The index decomposition analysis (IDA) is applied to quantitatively analyze the effect of four driving factors (total area sown, crop-mix, yield, and food loss rate) to water resources related to food losses along the agri-food chain in Lithuania for the period 2003-2021. The analysis only considers food crop products meant specifically for human consumption. The results indicate an increase in the water footprint associated with food losses along the supply chain, rising from 100.5 million m3 to 131.2 million m3. This represents a 30.6% increase over the period 2003-2021, equivalent to an average annual increase of 2.6%. The total agricultural area sown under crops and yields emerge as the most significant factors shaping this increase. These effects were partially offset by changes in the crop-mix and reduced loss and waste rates.