Life cycle assessment of potato production in northern Morocco

In Morocco, potato production is set to rise from 1641 thousand tonnes in 2021 to 1768 in 2022, an indication of increasing consumer demand. The Tanger-Tétouan Al-Hoceïma region accounts for 15% of national potato production, with almost 82% of production in the province of Larache. Potato cultivation can have a range of impacts on the environment due to its high fertilizer requirements compared with other crops, particularly with regard to percentages of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). Otherwise, agricultural practices commonly used to grow potatoes in the study area include the following: field preparation, the incorporation of organic fertilizers into the soil, seeding, fertilization, irrigation, pesticide spraying and plant protection. In order to determine the environmental impacts associated with potato cultivation in the Larache region, we used the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology using openLCA software, focusing on the following impact categories: Acidification (AP), Global Warming (GWP), Eutrophication (EP), Human Toxicity (HT), Freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity (FAE), Terrestrial ecotoxicity (TE), cited in the CML method, and USEtox to identify the following categories: freshwater ecotoxicity, human health—carcinogenic and uman health—non-carcinogenic.
A "cradle-to-gate" approach was adopted, taking into account the type of technological practices followed, the machinery used, its operating time, and the quantity of potato plants, fertilizers, pesticides, fuels used and water for a functional unit of 1 hectare of cultivated potato. The results show that the main contributors to the environmental impact of potato cultivation are the relatively high consumption of diesel and machinery.