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Poster by D. Peden, S. Awulachew, M. Alemayehu, T. Amede, H. Faki, A. Haileslassie, J. Gitau, M. Herrero, D. Mpairwe, and P. van Breugel. This poster was prepared for the Tenth Anniversary of the Nile Basin Initiative, 6-8 November 2009, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
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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
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Estimated annual rainfall (billion m3)
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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
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