Brad Ridoutt, a principal research scientist with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency and an international leader in the field of life cycle assessment, which he applies to agricultural production, food systems and sustainable healthy diets, has an interesting comment on livestock water ‘hoofprints’ which makes up part of a longer article of his, An update on water footprints, posted on Tara Garnett’s Food Climate Research Network (FCRN) site on 7 Feb 2016. Continue reading
Category Archives: Livestock-Water
Eight principles for land and water management in the Nile Basin
The Nile Basin Development Challenge (NBDC) in Ethiopia distilled insights, findings and experiences into eight key messages which, taken together, contribute to new water and land management paradigm that enables poor smallholder farmers improve their food security, livelihoods and incomes while conserving the natural resource base. Continue reading
Beyond fetching water for livestock: A gendered sustainable livelihood framework to assess livestock water productivity
A sourcebook from the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food, entitled ‘Addressing Water, Food and Poverty Problems Together—Methods, Tools and Lessons’ presents more than 50 articles on how to improve ecological and social resilience. One of the articles looks at ‘A gendered sustainable livelihood framework to assess livestock water productivity’. Continue reading
Power, partnership and participation: Nile Basin Development Challenge in summary
The CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) just published a summary of land and water research, lessons and outcomes generated by the Nile Basin Development Challenge in Ethiopia. Continue reading
Water ‘hoofprint’ of farm animals differs greatly by region and livestock production system–and can be reduced
Village women wash clothes and cattle are watered at a pond in Rajasthan, India (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). The fifth annual Water for Food Conference was held 5–8 May 2013 in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, hosted by the University of Nebraska’s Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and sponsored … Continue reading
New project promises better ‘LIVES’ for Ethiopia’s livestock and irrigation farmers
A baseline survey was conducted for the Livestock and Irrigation Value Chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project in Sidama (Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region), Ethiopia (photo credit: ILRI/Kettema Yilma). ‘The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) have launched a new project called “Livestock and [Irrigation] Value Chains for … Continue reading
How much water is in the meat on your plate? Livestock live talk at ILRI on 7 February 2013
What is a ‘water footprint’ and why does it matter? How does the ‘livestock water footprint’ differ between developing and developed countries? These are some of the questions that Arjen Hoekstra, a renowned professor in water management from the University of Twente in the Netherlands, will attempt to answer when he gives a ‘livestock live talk’ … Continue reading
The ‘happy strategies’ game: Matching land and water interventions with community and landscape needs
In mid 2011, Catherine Pfeifer, ILRI/IWMI researcher in the Nile Basin Development Challenge (NBDC), posed us a challenge: What kind of exercise could we do that would combine ‘expert’ knowledge of land and water practices with the needs of ‘landscapes’ and communities where these could be applied. The result should be some validated ‘best bet’ … Continue reading
Crop-livestock farmers in Ethiopia’s Blue Nile Basin supported in climate adaptation
Last week a project to ‘enhance communities’ adaptive capacity to climate-change-induced water scarcity in drought-prone hotspots of the Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia’ held a farmers’ field day at Kabe Watershed. More than 90 farmers, researchers, extension experts, staff of non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders met to share lessons on what farmers have practiced and benefited … Continue reading
Opportunities for water-efficient livestock production
For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Don Peden, Tilahun Amede and Amare Haileslassie prepared an issue brief on ways to maximize the benefits derived from animal products per unit of water consumed … Is it true that animal production uses excessive and unsustainable volumes of water? How can the livestock sector reduce … Continue reading