Avocado production in different biomes throughout Peru: do differing cultivation practices translate into differences in environmental impacts?

Abstract

Purpose Avocado production in Peru takes place in different biomes and under different agricultural systems (e.g., conventional, organic, or agroforestry). Therefore, it is important to understand differences in the environmental profile of avocado production within the diversity of these cultivation systems. Hence, the main objective of the study was to conduct a cradle-togate attributional Life Cycle Assessment of avocado production in Peru by small and medium-sized producers, under multiple scenarios to provide insights for enhancing environmental performance and including a sensitivity and uncertainty analysis. Methods Primary data were collected from 80 small and medium-sized producers (i.e., 355 ha) for the year 2023 to build the life cycle inventory, which was supported by the ecoinvent database. SimaPro was used to integrate inventory flows and assessment methods. The latter include a range of methods, such as IPCC 2021 to estimate GHG emissions, and AWARE to calculate water scarcity impacts, for which Peruvian-specific characterization factors (CFs) were incorporated. Biodiversity impacts were evaluated through the LUIS biodiversity footprint for land-use intensity and the product biodiversity footprint to identify broader biodiversity loss drivers. Results and discussion The results demonstrate differences in environmental impacts between regions, based on type of production system, variety of avocado, altitude or ecological region, especially in terms of consumptive water use (i.e., scarcity) and biodiversity impacts. Water scarcity values ranged from 1.2 to 764 m3eq/ kg depending on regionalized CFs. Biodiversity assessment methods suggest that avocado cultivation poses greater risks to the Amazon rainforest and the Andean Highlands compared to the coastal desert. Regarding GHG emissions, results ranged from 156 to 728 g CO2eq/ kg depending on the variety, within a middle range for fruits and vegetables as compared to the global literature. Agroforestry systems showed lower impacts compared to monoculture systems, particularly thanks to carbon sequestration. Conclusions and recommendations. For both water scarcity and biodiversity, results have shown to be highly site-specific, and spatial resolution is needed for decision-making on a case-to-case basis. GW impacts also showed relevant variability, especially when comparing agroforestry systems in the Amazon basin, where GHG emissions were considerably low thanks to enhanced carbon capture, with other production systems across the country. In any case, GHG emissions were found to be in the lower range as compared to previous avocado studies in scientific literature. Optimizing fertilizer use and adopting efficient irrigation methods, while improving irrigation measurements, were identified as key strategies to reduce environmental burdens across all systems.