Determination of plantain crops associated with coffee environmental impacts on agroecosystems by means of Life Cycle Assessment: case study in the Southwest of Antioquia (Colombia)

Abstract

Plantain and coffee are basic foodstuff of Colombian family standard basket, constituting important sources in the dynamism of the economy of the country. Given the importance of these products, five environmental impacts: global warming, aquatic eutrophication, terrestrial acidification, aquatic ecotoxicity and use of soil were evaluated in three plantain crops associated with coffee in Antioquia Southwest (Colombia), for this purpose RECIPE 2008 method with a cradle to gate approach was used. Surveys and interviews applied to owners and employees of the farms, and to agents related to the production chains were carried out to obtain primary data, secondary data were taken from Ecoinvent 3.1 database. Consumption of resources and emissions were assigned to a functional unit of 1 kg of plantain and 1 kg of dry parchment coffee. Production systems consisted of four stages: establishment/propagation, production, postharvest and distribution. Plantain system generated less impact than coffee, and the stages that contributed the most to the environmental burden on impact categories in both crops were establishment/propagation and production. This is mainly due to the manufacture and the use of fertilizers.

Keywords

• life cycle assessment
• agricultural systems
• environmental assessment
• environmental burden