FU Berlin

For more information contact: e-mail addressd.molden@cgiar.org

Nile Basin Livestock Water Productivity

Reclaiming Depleted Nile Water for Life and LivelihoodsD. Peden1, S. Awulachew3, M. Alemayehu2, T. Amede1&3, H. Faki4, A. Haileslassie1, J. Gitau1, M. Herrero1, D. Mpairwe5, P. van Breugel1

1 International Livestock Research Institute; 2 Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Ethiopia; 3 International Water Management Institute;4Agricultural Economics and Policy Research Center, ARC, Sudan; 5 Animal Science Department, Makerere University, Uganda

• Cover about 60% of the area of the Nile River Basin.

• Are home to about 50% of the Nile’s peoples.

• Receive about 85% of the Nile’s rainfall of about 2 trillion m3/year.

• Lose about 75% of basin rainfall as evapotranspiration.

• Support almost 90% of the Nile’s Tropical Livestock units (TLU)(One TLU = 250 kg live animal weight).

• Use about 60 billion m3 of water to produce forages, pasture and cropresidues for animal feed.

• Currently expose people to widespread and needless poverty, hungerand land and water degradation.

Six Rainfed Livestock Production Systems:

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400

600

Estimated annual rainfall (billion m3)

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400

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Estimated actual annual ET (billion m3)

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Water use for feed by cattle, sheep and goats (billion m3/year)

Opportunity to increase access to and benefits from rainwater for people and nature:

Case example

• Billions of cubic meters of water are potentially available for increasedagricultural production and ecosystem services by converting excessive evaporation (E) to transpiration (T) and increasing waterproductivity.

• Vegetative rehabilitation of the six livestock production systems is key.

• Increasing water productivity requires better access to livelihood assets, improved crop and livestock husbandry and health, access tomarkets, value added production, and land and water conservation.

• Capacity building, institutional development, multi-stakeholder participation are essential.

• Challenge Program on Water and Food research in Ethiopia, Sudan andUganda confirms that higher environmentally sustainable levels of cropand animal production are possible without increasing water depletion.

• Project research indicates that proactive integration of planning, investment and management of livestock and water development increases investment returns.

• Makerere University’s Animal Science Department provides an exampleof the effect of converting evaporation to transpiration (Photos 1-4).

Photos 1 & 2: A degraded livestock production system in Uganda’s Cattle Corridor.

Overgrazing and excessive charcoal production led to vegetation loss and to high run-off,

soil erosion, and evaporation. Siltation and reduced water quality in valley tanks, a water

harvesting practice, followed. Livestock water productivity dropped to almost nil. Termites

consumed any pasture vegetation that started to grow. Degraded pasture constrains

animal production and compromises provision of ecosystem services.

Photos 3 & 4: Rehabilitated production system. Night corralling of livestock deposits

manure on previously degraded soils. Termites seem to shift their diets from pasture grass

to manure enabling reestablishment of vegetative cover. Increased upslope ground cover

and riparian vegetation filter sediments and pathogens resulting in reduced siltation and

higher quality water in valley tanks. Increased transpiration drives greater plant growth

enabling more crop and animal production that is environmentally sustainable.

BEFORE: Degraded system & Lower transpiration AFTER: Rehabilitated system & higher transpiration

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Human population (millions)

Six Major Livestock Production Systems in the Nile River Basin

(Locations and Description)

Livestock dominated

systems

AridMixed crop

livestock systems

Arid

Humid Humid

Temperate Temperate

Results in this poster are based on CPWF research. For details, refer to publications now or

soon available from the International Livestock Research Institute (www.ilri.org) or the

CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (www.waterandfood.org). This poster was

prepared for the Tenth Anniversary of the Nile Basin Initiative, 6-8 November 2009, Dar es

Salaam, Tanzania. For more information contact Don Peden (d.peden@cgiar.org).

© 2009 ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute)

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Area (1000 km2)

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Cattle, Sheep and Goat TLU (millions)

Egypt

Sudan

Ethiopia

Kenya

DR Congo

Tanzania

Uganda

Rwanda

Burundi

Total = 59 billion m3

Total = 1,680 billion m3 Total = 1,272 billion m3

Agricultural Economics and

Policy Research Center

(ARC, Sudan)Makerere University

Ethiopian Institute

of Agricultural

Research