IMPROVING WATER PRODUCTIVITY IN CROP-LIVESTOCK SYSTEMS OF DROUGHT-PRONE REGIONS EDITORIAL COMMENT By TILAHUN AMEDE, SHIRLEY TARAWALI and DON PEDEN Crop-livestock systems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are mostly rainfall-dependent and based on fragmented marginal lands
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چکیده
Crop-livestock systems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are mostly rainfall-dependent and based on fragmented marginal lands that are vulnerable to soil erosion, drought and variable weather conditions. The threat of water scarcity in these systems is real, due to expanding demand for food and feed, climate variability and inappropriate land use (Amede et al., 2009). According to recent estimates, farming, industrial and urban needs in developing countries will increase water demand by 40% by 2030 (FAO, 2009). Water shortage is expected to be severe in areas where the amount of rainfall will decrease due to climate change. The lack of capacity of communities living in drought-prone regions to respond to market opportunities, climatic variability and associated water scarcity also results from very low water storage facilities, poverty and limited institutional capacities to efficiently manage the available water resources at local, national and basin scales. The spiral of watershed degradation causes decline in water budgets (Awlachew and Ayana, 2011), decreases soil fertility and reduces farm incomes in SSA (Amede and Taboge, 2007) and reduces crop and livestock water productivity (Descheemaeker et al., 2011). In areas where irrigated agriculture is feasible, there is an increasing demand for water and competition among different users and uses. Strategies and policies to reduce rural poverty should not only target increasing food production but should also emphasize improving water productivity (WP) at farm, landscape, sub-basin and higher levels. In drought-prone rural areas, an increase of 1% in crop water productivity makes available at least an extra 24 litres of water a day per person (FAO, 2003). Moreover, farming systems with efficient use of water resources are commonly responsive to external and internal drivers of change. This special issue of Experimental Agriculture presents evidence from Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and India, and captures current understanding of strategies to improve water productivity in drought-prone crop-livestock systems. Molden et al. (1997) defined water productivity as the ratio of beneficial outputs and services to water depleted in producing them, which could be expressed in terms of amount (e.g. kg grain per m3 of water) or value (e.g. USD per m3 of water). Definitions of WP could vary based on the purpose, scale and domain of analysis. Water productivity enables assessment of interactions between different system elements (e.g. livestock
منابع مشابه
Livestock and Water Interactions in Mixed Crop-Livestock Farming Systems of Sub-Saharan Africa: Interventions for Improved Productivity
I n t e r n a t i o n a l Water Management I n s t i t u t e Working Papers The publications in this series records the work and thinking of IWMI researchers, and knowledge that the Institute's scientific management feels is worthy of documenting. This series will ensure that scientific data and other information gathered or prepared as a part of the research work of the Institute are recorded ...
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