Improving livestock water productivity under changing climate Theib Oweis, ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria & Don Peden, ILRI, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Presentation at the Livestock & Global Climate Change Conference, Hammamet, Tunisia, May, 2008

Global livestock  Consumes 20% of agricultural ET for feed & often located where water is scarce  More extensive than croplands and correlated human densities  Sustains poor people in developing world  Linked to agricultural intensification  Expanding croplands encroach on grazing lands.

Southern Mediterranean Why the emphasis on water?  Increased water scarcity  Declining agricultural water  Need more food  Need security

RainSurface inflow Non-productive depletion Transpiration Available animal feed Drinking Water Conserving strategies Evapo- ration GW recharge Benefits from plants Feed Sourcing strategies Trees Pasture Imported feed Productivity- enhancing strategies Animal benefits Meat, milk, hide, manure, power & wealth Discharge & flood Quality loss Feed crops Grain Residues Food crops

CA key messages Integrating livestock and water development in developing countries can: reduce poverty, increase food production and reduce pressure on scarce water resources. 50% reductions in water use by African animal production may easily be achieved

Storage Irrigation Precipitation Field water balance: real & paper losses Runoff recoverable Transpiration Evaporation Losses To ground water recoverable Deep percolation Drainage Partially recoverable Quality losses Seepage recoverable

Water productivity: the concept Return WP = Unit of water consumed What return ?? Biomass, grain, meat, milk (kg) Income ($) Environmental benefits (C) Social benefits (employment) Energy (Cal) Nutrition (protein, carbohydrates, fat) What water ?? Quality (EC) Location (GW depth) Time available Consumed (depleted) Evaporation Transpiration Quality deterioration

Scales and drivers to increase WP  At the basin level: competition among uses (Env., Ag., Dom.) conflicts between countries Equity issues  At the national level: food security hard currency sociopolitics  At the farm level: maximizing economic return Nutrition in subsistence farming  At the field level: maximizing biological output

Low and high WPs Food water requirements 3000 liter/person/day or 1 liter of water/one calorie

Potential WP improvements  Reducing evaporation  Improving management  Enhancing genetic resources  Great potential in developing countries

Tradeoffs between water and land productivity Max WP Max Yield

Improving livestock water productivity under changing climate Theib Oweis, ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria & Don Peden, ILRI, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Presentation at the Livestock & Global Climate Change Conference, Hammamet, Tunisia, May, 2008

Global livestock  Consumes 20% of agricultural ET for feed & often located where water is scarce  More extensive than croplands and correlated human densities  Sustains poor people in developing world  Linked to agricultural intensification  Expanding croplands encroach on grazing lands.

Southern Mediterranean Why the emphasis on water?  Increased water scarcity  Declining agricultural water  Need more food  Need security

Strategies for improving LWP  Enhancing feed WP Feed selection Use of residues Feed water management Multiple use of water  Increase animal productivity Animal health and nutrition, Genetic resources, Access to markets & byproducts  Improve rangelands Rehabilitate degraded rangelands Improve grazing management Rainwater Harvesting

Climate change & water  Dry areas will get drier less precipitation  More extreme events Floods & prolonged droughts

CC impact on LW relations  Mainly through feed production  Different for zones, In dry areas: less rain + more drought will result in loss in plant productivity In monsoon areas: amount and intensity of rain is likely to increase, floods + positive productivity.  Irrigated agriculture will be effected by river flows fluctuations

CC adaptation and mitigation  Adaptation Understanding current climate variability will help the adaptation to CC Improving water and land productivity increases household incomes and resilience, and reduce vulnerability  Mitigation Intensive Livestock is an emitter of methane, increasing its productivity reduces the need for expansion Improving WP reduces expansion in agricultural lands (ex. deforestation) with less GHG emissions.

Time for change… faster than the climate !!!  Land: from subsistence farming to market oriented  Water: from maximizing yield to maximizing water productivity  Policies: from reactive to proactive  Institutions: from top down to involving and empowering farmers’ communities Perception of livestock: From methane emitter to a resource-use efficient sector

Thank you