Livestock and water in developing countries with an emphasis on Sub-Saharan Africa

2007 ◽  
Vol 2007 ◽  
pp. 265-265
Author(s):  
DG Peden
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Popular Literature ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
British Society ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Sub Saharan

Projected increased demand for food in developing countries over the next 30 years implies a correspondingly great need for additional agricultural water unless integrated research and development can achieve much higher water-use efficiencies. Without appropriate innovations in water management, poor access, quality and supply will continue to constrain food production. A global consortium recently completed the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management and Agriculture (CA 2007) and identified many options for overcoming water-related constraints to sustainable food production in developing countries. Historically, research and development of water resources has neglected the potential benefits and impacts of livestock. Apart from drinking water, livestock professionals have not given adequate attention to the use of and impact of domestic animals on water and related environmental health. In the absence of good science, popular literature is often highly critical of livestock production because of its perceived excess depletion of vital water resources. The CA uniquely attempted to address this issue (Peden 2007). This paper summarizes the CA’s findings about livestock for the benefit of the British Society of Animal Science (BSAS) and the wider livestock research community.

Livestock water productivity: implications for sub-Saharan Africa

2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 187 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Peden ◽  
G. Taddesse ◽  
A. Haileslassie
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Water Productivity ◽  
Livestock Production ◽  
Animal Production ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Agricultural Water ◽  
Sub Saharan

Water is essential for agriculture including livestock. Given increasing global concern that access to agricultural water will constrain food production and that livestock production uses and degrades too much water, there is compelling need for better understanding of the nature of livestock–water interactions. Inappropriate animal management along with poor cropping practices often contributes to widespread and severe depletion, degradation and contamination of water. In developed countries, diverse environmental organisations increasingly voice concerns that animal production is a major cause of land and water degradation. Thus, they call for reduced animal production. Such views generally fail to consider their context, applicability and implications for developing countries. Two global research programs, the CGIAR ‘Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management and Agriculture’ and ‘Challenge Program on Water and Food’ have undertaken studies of the development, management and conservation of agricultural water in developing countries. Drawing on these programs, this paper describes a framework to systematically identify key livestock–water interactions and suggests strategies for improving livestock and water management especially in the mixed crop–livestock production systems of sub-Saharan Africa. In contrast to developed country experience, this research suggests that currently livestock water productivity compares favourably with crop water productivity in Africa. Yet, great opportunities remain to further reduce domestic animals’ use of water in the continent. Integrating livestock and water planning, development and management has the potential to help reduce poverty, increase food production and reduce pressure on the environment including scarce water resources. Four strategies involving technology, policy and institutional interventions can help achieve this. They are choosing feeds that require relatively little water, conserving water resources through better animal and land management, applying well known tools from the animal sciences to increase animal production, and strategic temporal and spatial provisioning of drinking water. Achieving integrated livestock–water development will require new ways of thinking about, and managing, water by water- and animal-science professionals.

scholarly journals Water Management for Sustainable Food Production

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 778
Author(s):  
Narayanan Kannan ◽  
Aavudai Anandhi
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Rainwater Harvesting ◽  
Population Increase ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Sustainable Food Production

The agricultural community has a challenge of increasing food production by more than 70% to meet demand from the global population increase by the mid-21st century. Sustainable food production involves the sustained availability of resources, such as water and energy, to agriculture. The key challenges to sustainable food production are population increase, increasing demands for food, climate change, and climate variability, decreasing per capita land and water resources. To discuss more details on (a) the challenges for sustainable food production and (b) mitigation options available, a special issue on “Water Management for Sustainable Food Production” was assembled. The special issue focused on issues such as irrigation using brackish water, virtual water trade, allocation of water resources, consequences of excess precipitation on crop yields, strategies to increase water productivity, rainwater harvesting, irrigation water management, deficit irrigation, and fertilization, environmental and socio-economic impacts, and irrigation water quality. Articles covered several water-related issues across the U.S., Asia, Middle-East, Africa, and Pakistan for sustainable food production. The articles in the special issue highlight the substantial impacts on agricultural production, water availability, and water quality in the face of increasing demands for food and energy.

Planning water management for secure food production in sub-Saharan Africa

2009 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 509-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Girma Senbeta Ararso ◽  
Bart Schultz ◽  
Peter Hollanders
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan

Weeds in Human Affairs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for Sustainable Food Production

1991 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 680-690 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Okezie Akobundu
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Ecological Zones ◽  
Sustainable Food Production ◽  
Vegetation Zones ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Annual Weeds ◽  
Agro Ecological Zones

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the world's largest human population growth rate, some of its poorest soils, and a high incidence of crop pests. Weeds are the major pest in virtually all of the agro-ecological zones of SSA. Parasitic and perennial weeds dominate the savanna vegetation zones whereas rapidly growing annual weeds overwhelm crops in the forest vegetation zones. High weed pressure coupled with inefficient weed control practices have tied up a disproportionate percentage of SSA's economically active population in the primary task of food production and also have kept crop yields down. In the absence of organized weed research and professional training in weed science to meet the needs of the region, improved cultivars of virtually all crops fall prey to weeds, and available arable land becomes limited to that area that can be kept free of weeds. A preponderance of annual weeds in humid parts of SSA together with hard-to-kill perennial grasses and parasitic weeds in the subhumid and arid agro-ecological zones hamper crop production and frustrate farmers throughout the region. Sustainable food production in the region can be achieved by introducing improved weed management technologies and by addressing other food production constraints of the region.

The Oxford Handbook of Food, Politics, and Society

2014 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Agricultural Technologies ◽  
The North ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Science And Politics ◽  
Sub Saharan

This book explores the complex interrelationships between food and agriculture, politics, and society. More specifically, it considers the political aspects of three basic economic questions: what is to be produced? how is it to be produced? how it is to be distributed? It also outlines three unifying themes running through the politics of answering these societal questions with regard to food, namely: ecology, technology and property. Furthermore, the book examines the tendency to address the new organization of global civil society around food, its production, distribution, and consequences for the least powerful within the context of the North-South divide; the problems of malnutrition as opposed to poverty, food insecurity, and food shortages, as well as the widespread undernutrition in developing countries; and how biotechnology can be used to ensure a sustainable human future by addressing global problems such as human population growth, pollution, climate change, and limited access to clean water and other basic food production resources. The influence of science and politics on the framing of modern agricultural technologies is also discussed, along with the worsening food crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa, food security and food safety, and the relationship between gender inequality and food security. Other chapters deal with the link between land and food and its implications for social justice; the "eco-shopping” perspective; the transformation of the agrifood industry in developing countries; the role of wild foods in food security; agroecological intensification of smallholder production systems; and the ethics of food production and consumption.

Food and Dependency: P.L. 480 Aid to Black Africa

1982 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Vengroff
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Production Technology ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Priority List ◽  
Adequate Supply ◽  
Black Africa ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
First World

In a recent study of 90 developing countries by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation, 52 of them were found to have more than 15 per cent of their populations undernourished. This figure was determined using the F.A.O. minimum intake of 1,600 calories per day, only about half of that of the average diet of citizens in the ‘First World’. In Black Africa, 29 of the 33 independent nations included in the F.A.O. study fall into the category of undernourished. Contributions of aid in the form of food and food-production technology are therefore extremely important to this region. Obtaining an adequate supply of food for their people must be high on the priority list for governments in sub-Saharan Africa, and is the focus of this article.

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