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, 17-20 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.

Projection of Water Availability per Capita (cubic meter per year)

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

1965 1975 1985 1995 2005 2015 2025

Year

Water

per C

apita

(m3/y

r)

Turkey Morocco Egypt Jordan Very Low Water Poverty Absolute Scarcity

85 8070

53

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1990 2000 2025 2050

Cub

ic m

eter

per

cap

ita

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

% o

f tot

al w

ater

reso

urce

s

% Agriculture share of totalTotal available water per capitaAgriculture share of water per capita

Southern Mediterranean

Why the emphasis on water?

Increased water scarcity

Declining agricultural water

Need more food Need security

Rain Surface inflow

Non-productivedepletionTranspiration

Availableanimal

feed

Drinking WaterConservingstrategies

Eva

po

-ra

tio

n

GW

rec

har

ge

Benefitsfrom

plants

FeedSourcingstrategies

Tre

es

Pas

ture

Impo

rted

fee

d

Productivity-enhancingstrategies

Animalbenefits

Meat, milk, hide,manure, power

& wealth

Dis

char

ge

& f

loo

d

Qu

alit

y lo

ss

Fee

dcr

op

s

Grain

Residues

Foodcrops

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

Runoffrecoverable

Transpiration

EvaporationLosses

To ground waterrecoverable

Deep percolationDrainagePartially recoverableQuality losses

Seepagerecoverable

Water productivity: the concept

ReturnWP = --------------------------------- 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

Biological WP kg/m3

0.030.3 0.2

3

10.4

0.1

1

7

3

0.81.2

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Beef Lentil Wheat Potato Olive Dates

Economic Wp $/m3

0.1 0.1 0.10.3

10.8

0.3 0.30.6 0.7

3

1.6

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

Beef Lentil Wheat Potato Olive DatesNutritional WP Protein gr/m3

10

90

50 50

10 8

30

150 150

120

30

16

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Beef Lentil Wheat Potato Olive Dates

Nutritional WP Calories/m3

60

1000660

3000

1150 1120

210

35004000

7000

3450

2240

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

Beaf Lentil Wheat Potato Olive Dates

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

y = -0.4278x2 + 4.7328x - 0.543

R2 = 0.7611

0

5

10

15

20

0 2 4 6 8 10

Land productivtiy (t/ha)

Wa

ter

pro

du

cti

vty

(k

g/m

3 x

10

)

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, 17-20 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.

Projection of Water Availability per Capita (cubic meter per year)

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

1965 1975 1985 1995 2005 2015 2025

Year

Water

per C

apita

(m3/y

r)

Turkey Morocco Egypt Jordan Very Low Water Poverty Absolute Scarcity

85 8070

53

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1990 2000 2025 2050

Cub

ic m

eter

per

cap

ita

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

% o

f tot

al w

ater

reso

urce

s

% Agriculture share of totalTotal available water per capitaAgriculture share of water per capita

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

RainwaterHarvesting

Climate change & water

Dry areas will get drierless precipitation

More extreme eventsFloods & 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

AdaptationUnderstanding 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