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The good news is …

Better management of rainwater in livestock systems of the Nile River Basin affords a huge opportunity to capture billions of cubic meters of water otherwise depleted as evaporation helping to combat desertification while increasing crop and livestock production and ecosystem and services such as carbon sequestration.

And the not so good news is …

Reclaiming Depleted Nile Water

for Life and Livelihoods

Restoring the Nile’s agricultural, natural, and aquatic ecosystems remains an elusive goal given the centuries old challenge of equitably and sustainably managing common property natural resources, a challenge now aggravated by population growth, poverty, hunger, and transboundary constraints to river basin management.

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Estimated annual rainfall (billion m3)

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Estimated actual annual ET (billion m3)

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Water use for feed by cattle, sheep and goats (billion m3/year)

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Human population (millions)

Six Major Livestock Production Systems in the Nile River Basin

(Locations and Description)

Livestock dominated

systems

AridMixed crop

livestock systems

Arid

Humid Humid

Temperate Temperate

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Area (1000 km2)

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Cattle, Sheep and Goat TLU (millions)

Egypt

Sudan

Ethiopia

Kenya

DR Congo

Tanzania

Uganda

RwandaBurundi

Animal water use = 59 billion m3

Total rain = 1,680 billion m3 Rain lost as ET = 1,272 billion m3

D. Peden1

, S. Awulachew3

, M. Alemayehu2

, T. Amede1&3

, H. Faki4

, A. Haileslassie1

, J. Gitau1

, M. Herrero1

, D. Mpairwe5

, P. van Breugel1

1International Livestock Research Institute;

2 Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, Ethiopia;

3International Water Management Institute;4

Agricultural Economics and Policy Research Center, ARC, Sudan; 5

Animal Science Department, Makerere University, Uganda

• Cover about 60% of the area of the Nile River Basin.

• Are home to about 50% of the Nile’s peoples.

• Receive about 85% of total basin rainfall (2 trillion m3/year).

• Lose about 75% of basin rainfall as evapotranspiration where

evaporation is excessive.

• Support 90% of the Nile’s Tropical Livestock units.

• Use 60 billion m3 of water to produce forages, pasture & crop

residues for animal feed.

• Currently expose people to widespread and needless poverty,

hunger and land and water degradation.

Six Rainfed Livestock Production Systems

Opportunity to increase access to and benefits

from rainwater for people and nature

Case example

• Billions of cubic meters of water are potentially available for

agricultural production and ecosystem services.

• Convert excessive evaporation (E) to transpiration (T).

• Rehabilitate vegetation in the six livestock production systems.

• Increasing water productivity requires:• Better access to livelihood assets,

• Improved livestock & crop husbandry and health,

• Access to markets & value added production,

• Land and water conservation, and

• Capacity building, institutional development, investment & multi-

stakeholder participation.

Agricultural Economics and Policy

Research Center, RC, SudanMakerere University

Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research

Photos 1 & 2: The degraded Cattle Corridor in Uganda is characterized by

over-grazing, excessive charcoal production, vegetation loss, and high run-

off, evaporation, sedimentation, and erosion. Termites consumed any pasture

vegetation that started to grow. Livestock water productivity and ecosystem

services dropped to almost nil.

Photos 3 & 4: Night corralling of livestock deposits manure on previously

degraded soils led to rehabilitation of livestock production and ecosystem

services. Termites seem to shift their diets from pasture grass to manure

enabling reestablishment of vegetative cover.

BEFORE: Degraded system & Lower transpiration AFTER: Rehabilitated system & higher transpiration