Improving livestock water productivity to help satisfy future

human dietary requirements in developing countries

Don Peden, Mario Herrero, Girma Taddesse, and David Molden

Invited Paper

Stockholm World Water Week 2006 workshop on Changing diets and their implications for water, land and livelihoods

20 to 26 August, Stockholm, Sweden

With assistance from Canada’sInternational Development Research Centre

Hungry world ‘must eat less meat’Opening Stockholm WWW 2004 By Alex Kirby: BBC News Online environment correspondent

Is this the whole story?What about developing countries?

Most “hungry” people live in developing countries!What is potential to increase water productivity?

World water supplies will not be enough for our descendants to enjoy the sort of diet the West eats now, experts say.

The World Water Week (2004) in Stockholm will be told the growth in demand for meat and dairy products is unsustainable. Livestock needs a lot of water

Outline

• Livestock-water productivity (LWP) assessment framework

• Importance of animal sourced foods• Options for improving LWP

– Feed sourcing– Improved animal production– Sustainable land and water management– Livestock drinking water

• Two case studies• Concluding thoughts

What is livestock water productivity?

• Understanding livestock use of water requires a systems approach and suitable analytical framework

• Beneficial outputs include: – Protein, energy, fat, vitamins A & B12, Fe, Se, Zn, Ca,– Animal power, manure, wealth savings, hides, skins, etc.

• Depleted water is water lost from an agricultural system that cannot easily be recovered and re-used.

• Unfortunately, existing methodologies inconsistent.

LWP = ∑(Net beneficial outputs)

∑(Depleted water)

In -

flo

w

Surface in-flow Ground

water

Rain

Ground & soil water recharge

Infiltration

Drinking

BeneficialAnimal outputs:

Meat, milk, eggs, hides,farm power, manure,

wealth savings

Evaporation

Discharge/flood

Contamination, Degradation

Trees

Grazing land

Food crops

Feed crops

Tra

nspi

ratio

n

Grazing, Feeding, Watering

Enhancing Production

Genetics, health, nutrition, value

added

Importedfeed

Feed Sourcing

Range, grains forages,

LWP FRAMEWORK

LWP is a function of:

• Value of many beneficial outputs including nutrients required in human diets plus other benefits derived from animals.

• ?? Opportunity costs of alternate water uses????• Opportunities to source feeds with higher water productivity.• Strategies to enhance animal productivity.• Adoption of appropriate watering and grazing practices that

prevent water depletion and degradation.

>> We need to consider of all 4 factors <<

Human nutrition in developing countries:(A beneficial output)

• Adults need:– about 70g quality protein daily.– Energy, minerals, fat, and micro-

nutrients.– Protein in excess of 70g used as

energy source.

• Animal source foods: one option for meeting dietary needs.

• Sale of animal products enables purchase of food.

Consumption & production of meat & milk

Countrygroup

AnnualGrowth

(%)

Per capita in2020 (kg/year)

Meat Milk

Consumption Sub-Sahara 3.3 12 37

Developing 3.0 36 62

Developed 0.7 86 210

Production Sub-Sahara 3.6 10 30

Developing 3.0 29 63

Developed 0.5 87 267Source: Delgado (2003)

• Rapid growth in demand & production in developing areas.• Consumption will lag for years in SSA.• SSA will not be self-sufficient in 2020.

Some essential nutrients available in animal source foods

Food Iron Zinc Selenium Vitamin B12

Vitamin A

Meat YES YES YES YES YES

Milk NO NO YES YES YES

• Plant-based alternatives not always available.• Vitamin B12 not readily available from plant sources.• Availability of Iron higher in meat.• Depleted soils may limit food quality.• Regardless of water-use efficiency, producing animal source foods may be a priority use of water.

Example health impacts of livestock products

• Child mental development.• Strengthened immune system.• Increased work capacity.• Remedy for anemia.• Urban over consumption.

Urban/rural challenge: • Urban population growth to 2020.• Urban dietary shifts.• Chronic diseases

• Rural diets not adequate• Rural livelihood option to help feed urban masses.

Environmental degradation and poor diets retard development of cognitive & motor skills.

Strategically source animal feeds• Water for feed can be 50X drinking water.• African livestock consume little or no grain.• Animals rely on grazing & crop residues and crop byproducts.• Little knowledge about water use for non-grain feeds.

• Procuring feed is a primary livelihood activity

Assess and improve WP & Rain-use efficiency (RUE) for non-grain feed sources

Feed/Forage/rangeland WP or RUE(Kg/m3 H20)

Crop residues & byproducts [No extra H20] ?? High ??

Irrigated forage Sorghum (Sudan) 7.0

Pennisetum purpureum 4.2

Irrigated alfalfa (Sudan & Wyoming) 1.5

Masai Mara range (Kenya) 0.6

USA, Med., Austr., Sahel, Central Asia range 0.1 - 0.5

>> Variability among production systems high! <<

Make more effective use of rangelands unsustainable for crop

Strictly grazing

Mostly grazing

Other

Rain water used for feed often has no other productive agricultural potential but ecosystem services may be

important.

Maintain vegetative cover to increase livestock water productivity

(North Africa- 200 to 314 mm annual ppt)

Grazingpressure

Plant cover (%)

Dry matter production (kg/ha)

RUE (kg/m3)

None 25 1040 0.43

Heavy 7 520 0.21

Overstocking 4 336 0.13

• Reduced infiltration and evaporation.• Increased transpiration and run-off.• Optimal or “moderate” stocking rates maximize sustainable feed intake and animal production.

Use byproducts from irrigated crops to support animal industry

(e.g. Kenana & Gezira, Sudan)

• Increased returns on irrigation investments.• 37% of Gezira farmers’ income comes from livestock.• Nutrition for producers and urban population.

Khartoum feed market

Kenana Dairy

MolassesCrop residues

Nile irrigation

+ +

Enhance animal productivity(Problem)

• Livestock productivity < 50% of genetic potential.– Milk production: often less than 2 L/day/cow.– Substandard quality of animal products.– High mortality and morbidity.– Herd off-take very low.– Low reproductive rates.– Suboptimal breeds.– Minimal weight gains.– Poor market access.

Opportunities to enhance animal productivity

Improve:• Animal nutrition.• Veterinary health care.• Animal genetic resources. • Access to markets.• Value-added animal products.• Grazing, watering and housing.Provide: • Alternative wealth savings• Drought risk insurance.But apply: • Animal/water demand management approach.

>> Implies integration of traditional animals sciences into agricultural water development<<

Drought hardy Kenana cattle, Gezira, Sudan

Reduce grazing and watering impact on water resources

• Avoid degradation of water in excess of animals’ needs.• Limit conversion of range to annual croplands to.

– Reduce run-off, erosion, sedimentation.– Maintain transpiration, infiltration, soil fertility & vegetative

cover.

• Restrict uncontrolled animal access to water bodies to avoid: – Sedimentation.– Water quality loss.– Risk to human health.– Loss of riparian & aquatic

habitats.

Reduce grazing and watering impact on water resources (cont’d)

Grazing land:

– Establish community-based management.

– Keep riparian buffer zones.– Limit stocking rates and grazing

pressure.

Mixed crop-livestock systems:

– Apply zero grazing and watering.– Limit expansion of cropping.– Adopt conservation agriculture.– Provide quality drinking water for

dairy cows.

Drinking water – A special issue(Neither depleted water nor part of LWP calculation)

• Vital to survival and production - quality important.

• Negligible compared to depleted and degraded H20.

• Opportunities:– Strategically distribute watering points to enable effective

use of pasture.– Provide one L for drinking to make effective use of about

100 L or transpired water in grazing areas.– Provide cows with water for more milk & less labor.

Case 1: Mixed rainfed farming in Blue Nile(Preliminary application of new LWP assessment model)

System Scale Agricultural product

WP(US$/m3)

Rainfed mixed crop-livestock systems

Basin Livestock – multiple species and uses

0.68

Irrigated WH Household Onion + tomato 0.73

Irrigated WH Household Green Maize 0.47

Irrigated WH Household Onion 0.37

• Mostly rainfed LWP compares favourably with crops produced in household water harvesting systems.• Even without efforts to increase LWP.

Case 2: Household water harvesting (SG2000)

Integration of livestock and crops:

Underground tank

Butter: added value

Market & home consumption

Giving drinking H20Zero grazing & improved cow

> More milk/drop> More value>Less labour

>Better nutritionIncome: $150 to $1500 per year

Concluding remarks

• Developing countries need animal source foods.• LWP compares favourable with crop WP.• We can at least double LWP by:

– Strategic sourcing of animal feeds.– Enhancing animal productivity & reducing herd sizes.– Better management of grazing and watering.– Strategic use of drinking water.

• Urban & rural areas have different dietary needs.• We need better integrating water & livestock

development to:– Increase LWP & returns on investments in agricultural H20.

– Satisfy future dietary requirements.

THANK YOUREFERENCES USED ARE AVAILABLE