"Swimming Upstream The Livestock – Water Nexus," November 2008, by ILRI Director General Carlos Seré

1. Swimming Upstream
The Livestock – Water Nexus
Carlos Seré, Don Peden, Gabrielle Persley, Nancy Johnson
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Global Forum on Water and Food, Addis Ababa, November 10 2008

2. Key messages
Livestock - water nexus
 1. Livestock are a key component in improving
agricultural water management, currently playing
both positive and negative roles
 2. Livestock and water intersect at all levels – global,
river basin, farming system, animal, and household
levels of water management
 3. Better co-management of livestock water
productivity will contribute to food security and
poverty reduction and reduce negative impacts of
livestock on the environment

3. Presentation Overview
 1. Context
 2. New paradigm of agricultural water productivity
 3. Why livestock - water interfaces matter
 4. Future research issues
 5. Conclusion


4. 1.Context

5. Context (1)
Livestock – water nexus
 Livestock progressively included in agenda of
Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF)
 Phase 1- One out of 33 CPWF projects on livestock
Results to be presented by Don Peden here
 Phase 2 – One of six priority areas on livestock i.e.
 “Research to quantify livestock use of, and impact
on, water resources in diverse production systems”

6. Context (2)
Livestock – water nexus
 Water also increasingly included in ILRI’s livestock
and poverty agenda
 Water affects ability of livestock to provide pathways
out of poverty for more than 600 million people who
depend on livestock for their livelihoods
 Water is a key factor in 3 of the 7 global issues on
which ILRI focuses its research agenda:
Sustainable intensification in crop/livestock
systems
Vulnerability of the poor in marginal systems
Climate change adaptation and mitigation

7. 2.New paradigm of agricultural
water productivity

8. 2. Agricultural Water Productivity
 2007 CGIAR comprehensive assessment of water
management in agriculture highlights new paradigm
 Historically, irrigation investments critical driver of
the Green Revolution in Asia
 In future, 75% world food demand likely to come
from increasing production in rain fed agriculture
 Rainfed agriculture is not only crops but also
livestock, in multiple use agricultural water systems
 Ultimate water resource to manage is rainfall, and its
role in agricultural systems

9. Livestock Water Productivity
 Livestock water productivity = net benefits from
livestock per unit of water depleted
Grain-fed beef: 100,000 lt water per kg beef
Average globally: 10,000 to 20,000 lt water per kg
 Extensive beef production is based on grazing
rangelands and crop residues, rather than grain

10. 3. Why livestock - water interfaces
matter?

11. Livestock-water interfaces
Examples
 1. Global level
 2. River basins and watersheds
 3. Farming systems
 4. Animal level
 5. Household level



12. Global level
Climate change
 Livestock (ruminants) also contribute towards
climate change by methane production
 Livestock in the developing world is a minor
contributor to global climate change
 Mitigation options include alternative uses of
rangelands, such as ecosystem services
 Reducing grazing pressure on world’s overgrazed
rangelands would sequester large amounts of
carbon


13. Livestock – water interfaces
Basin/watershed
In arid conditions, livestock
dominates agriculture; risk
of overgrazing in upstream
regions, leading to soil
erosion, excess run off
and flooding downstream
Inter country trade/ markets
can encourage specialized
water use in basins e.g
Livestock upstream, high
value crops downstream

14. Livestock – water interfaces
Farming system level
Pastoral systems –
rangeland management
critical e.g. more watering
points to enable livestock
to use biomass
Crop/livestock systems –
multiple uses water;
need to restrict livestock
access to primary water
supply to prevent
contamination of
drinking water

15. Livestock – water interfaces
Animal level
Match animal species and breeds
with environment:
e.g. African cattle breeds
such as Ankole cattle of
central Africa better adapted
to hot/dry conditions than
exotic breeds

16. Livestock – water interfaces
Household level
Household water harvesting
can be integrated with
small scale dairying to
increase income
Household production of
animal foods (meat and milk)
improves human health and
nutrition, important for
women and children

17. 4. Future Research Issues

18. Future research directions
 1. Need to better understand main drivers shaping
nature of trade offs amongst water and livestock
 2. Quantifying relative importance of possible
interventions in technology, policy and institutions
to improve system performance and facilitate
multiple uses of water
 3. Engaging social change processes to turn new
knowledge into action on the ground and in the
water.

19. Research management

20. Research management challenges for
Challenge Program on Water and Food
 CPWF addresses complex agenda - physical,
biological, economic and social dimensions
 Phase 1 – Competitive grants used successfully to
mobilise new sources of expertise and address new
areas, including livestock

21. Research management challenges for
Challenge Program on Water and Food
 Phase 2 – Areas of synergy emerging where specific
commissioned research more appropriate
 Need to balance participatory approaches with
transaction costs of multiple consultations
 New challenge of building effective partnerships with
local communities, civil society, diverse branches of
government, national and international research
systems and investors

22. 5. Conclusions

23. Conclusions:
Potential for impact
 Rapidly increasing water scarcity globally and
growing demand for livestock products in the
developing world,
 Improved livestock management presents many
opportunities to increase agricultural water
productivity and leads to better livelihoods and
improved environmental sustainability
 R&D investments at the water-food-livestock
intersection will have significant pay off in terms of
benefits for people, livestock and the environment

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