Improving water productivity in mixed crop–livestock farming systems of sub-Saharan Africa

Descheemaeker, Katrien; Amede, Tilahun; Haileslassie, Amare

doi:10.1016/j.agwat.2009.11.012

Cited by 88 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Optimal interactions between different operations on the farm can increase farmer's incomes, as well as system-wide resilience and environmental sustainability (Descheemaeker et al 2010). With limited access to agricultural inputs, combining crops with livestock also offers complementary benefits to each that would otherwise require external inputs to maintain.…”

Section: Background and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Qualitative Evaluation of CSA Options in Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems in Developing Countries

Thornton

Rosenstock

Förch³

et al. 2017

Natural Resource Management and Policy

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The mixed crop-livestock systems of the developing world will become increasingly important for meeting the food security challenges of the coming decades. The synergies and trade-offs between food security, adaptation, and mitigation objectives are not well studied, however. Comprehensive evaluations of the costs and benefits, and the synergies and trade-offs, of different options in developing-country mixed systems do not exist as yet.Here we summarise what we know about the climate smartness of different alternatives in the mixed croplivestock systems in developing countries, based on published literature supplemented by a survey of experts. We discuss constraints to the uptake of different interventions and the potential for their adoption, and highlight some of the technical and policy implications of current knowledge and knowledge gaps.

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Section: Background and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Qualitative Evaluation of CSA Options in Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems in Developing Countries

Thornton

Rosenstock

Förch³

et al. 2017

Natural Resource Management and Policy

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show abstract

“…minimizing unproductive water losses due to runoff, evaporation, conveyance losses and deep percolation) and increasing water utilization efficiency. Measures to achieve conservation include physical structures, such as irrigation systems, as well increased vegetation cover, which can help improve the ratio of productive to unproductive water losses (Descheemaeker, Amede, & Haileslassie, 2010).…”

Section: Improving Water Management Practices: Current Trends and Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

An assessment of the effects of Africa's water crisis on food security and management

Besada

Werner²

2014

International Journal of Water Resources Development

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Food security remains one of the most pressing concerns of this century. This article explores the often overlooked role of water scarcity in food security. This is particularly important within the African context, because most states on the continent rely heavily on agriculture. The article therefore focuses on Africa, discussing triggers and practices related to water usage currently in place, as well as their impact on development. The authors offer various recommendations on how to improve and streamline policies to encourage efficient water use.

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“…Computation of LWP LWP is defined as the ratio of beneficial livestock outputs and services to actual evapo-transpiration (ET a ) of water in the production of livestock feeds (Peden et al, 2007;Haileslassie et al, 2009;Descheemaeker et al, 2010). Evapo-transpiration related to the actual production of above-ground biomass (ET a in millimeters per crop growth period) was computed based on the relationship between potential evapotranspiration (ET c ) and crop yields, collected through farmer recall interview (Fermont and Benson, 2011).…”

Section: Improving Livestock Water Productivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Off-take of livestock was calculated by summing the values of each animal type (in US$) that was sold, slaughtered for home consumption or gifted out in a year. To estimate the values of these products and services, information on the livestock herd structure, productivity and services given in a year were calculated as suggested by Haileslassie et al (2009) and Descheemaeker et al (2010). Haileslassie et al (2009) developed a simple spread-sheet model to estimate LWP values.…”

Section: Improving Livestock Water Productivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Strategies for improving water use efficiency of livestock production in rain-fed systems

Kebebe

Oosting

Haileslassie

et al. 2015

Animal

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Livestock production is a major consumer of fresh water, and the influence of livestock production on global fresh water resources is increasing because of the growing demand for livestock products. Increasing water use efficiency of livestock production, therefore, can contribute to the overall water use efficiency of agriculture. Previous studies have reported significant variation in livestock water productivity (LWP) within and among farming systems. Underlying causes of this variation in LWP require further investigation. The objective of this paper was to identify the factors that explain the variation in LWP within and among farming systems in Ethiopia. We quantified LWP for various farms in mixed-crop livestock systems and explored the effect of household demographic characteristics and farm assets on LWP using ANOVA and multilevel mixed-effect linear regression. We focused on water used to cultivate feeds on privately owned agricultural lands. There was a difference in LWP among farming systems and wealth categories. Better-off households followed by medium households had the highest LWP, whereas poor households had the lowest LWP. The variation in LWP among wealth categories could be explained by the differences in the ownership of livestock and availability of family labor. Regression results showed that the age of the household head, the size of the livestock holding and availability of family labor affected LWP positively. The results suggest that water use efficiency could be improved by alleviating resource constraints such as access to farm labor and livestock assets, oxen in particular.Keywords: mixed-crop livestock systems, livestock feed, water use efficiency, livestock water productivity ImplicationsLivestock production is one of the major consumers of fresh water, and the influence of livestock production on water resources is increasing because of the growing demand for livestock products. The results suggest that water use efficiency could be improved by alleviating resource constraints such as access to farm labor and livestock assets, oxen in particular. The findings of this research help in making decisions about where to invest scarce resources in order to improve water use efficiency in livestock production under rain-fed conditions.

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Improving water productivity in mixed crop–livestock farming systems of sub-Saharan Africa

Cited by 88 publications

References 52 publications

A Qualitative Evaluation of CSA Options in Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems in Developing Countries

A Qualitative Evaluation of CSA Options in Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems in Developing Countries

An assessment of the effects of Africa's water crisis on food security and management

Strategies for improving water use efficiency of livestock production in rain-fed systems

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