Improving Land and Water Management
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Working Paper Installment 4 of “Creating a Sustainable Food Future” IMPROVING LAND AND WATER MANAGEMENT ROBERT WINTERBOTTOM, CHRIS REIJ, DENNIS GARRITY, JERRY GLOVER, DEBBIE HELLUMS, MIKE MCGAHUEY, AND SARA SCHERR SUMMARY The world’s food production systems face enormous CONTENTS challenges. Millions of farmers in developing countries Summary ......................................................................1 are struggling to feed their families as they contend Land, Water, and Food ..................................................3 with land degradation, land use pressures, and climate change. Many smallholder farmers must deal with low and Land Degradation Challenges .......................................6 unpredictable crop yields and incomes, as well as chronic Improved Land and Water food insecurity. These challenges are particularly acute in Management Practices ................................................11 Sub-Saharan Africa’s drylands, where land degradation, Opportunities for Scaling Up .......................................25 depleted soil fertility, water stress, and high costs for Recommended Approaches fertilizers contribute to low crop yields and associated poverty and hunger. to Accelerate Scaling Up .............................................27 A Call to Action ...........................................................34 Farmers and scientists have identified a wide range of Endnotes .....................................................................36 land and water management practices that can address References ...................................................................39 land degradation and increase long-term agricultural productivity. The benefits of these improved land and water management practices to farmers and rural Disclaimer: Working Papers contain preliminary economies include higher crop yields, increased supplies research, analysis, findings, and recommendations. They of other valuable goods such as firewood and fodder, are circulated to stimulate timely discussion and critical increased income and employment opportunities, feedback and to influence ongoing debate on emerging and increased resilience to climate change. These issues. Most working papers are eventually published in benefits occur because these improved land and water another form and their content may be revised. management practices: Increase soil organic matter Suggested Citation: Winterbottom, R., et al. 2013. “Improving Land and Water Management.” Working Paper, Improve soil structure Installment 4 of Creating a Sustainable Food Future. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute. Accessible at: Reduce soil erosion http://www.worldresourcesreport.org. Increase water filtration Increase efficiency of water use Replenish soil nutrients Increase the efficiency of nutrient uptake. WORKING PAPER | October 2013 | 1 In this paper, we profile four of the most promising Farmers have realized even greater benefits when improved land and water management practices combining these practices, and have further enhanced that are particularly relevant to the drylands of yields when combining them with conventional Sub-Saharan Africa: agricultural technology solutions such as fertilizers and 1. Agroforestry—the deliberate integration of woody improved seed varieties. An example of a cost-effective, perennial plants―trees and shrubs―with crops or complementary practice is “micro-dosing,” the targeted livestock on the same tract of land. application of small quantities of fertilizer―often just a capful―directly to crop seeds or young shoots at planting 2. Conservation agriculture—a combination of reduced time or when the rains fall. Nearly 500,000 smallholder tillage, retention of crop residues or maintenance of farmers in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have learned the cover crops, and crop rotation or diversification. micro-dosing technique and have experienced increases in 3. Rainwater harvesting—low-cost practices―such sorghum and millet yields of 44–120 percent, along with as planting pits, stone bunds, and earthen trenches an increase in family incomes of 50–130 percent. along slopes―that capture and collect rainfall before it runs off farm fields. These four improved land and water management practices can help smallholders boost crop yields 4. Integrated soil fertility management—the combined and provide other benefits on individual farms. use of judicious amounts of mineral fertilizers and However, in many situations, sustaining or improving soil amendments such as manure, crop residues, agricultural productivity will require coordination compost, leaf litter, lime, or phosphate rock. between resource users situated in different parts of the larger landscape, including in non-farmed This working paper examines each of these four practices lands, wetlands, forests, and rangelands. Integrated in depth and describes their observed impacts on crop landscape approaches bring sectors and stakeholders yields and other measurable benefits to farmers and rural together to jointly plan, design, and manage their communities. For example: landscapes for improved agricultural production, 1. Agroforestry. In Malawi, maize yields increased by ecosystem conservation, and sustainable livelihoods. about 50 percent when nitrogen-fixing Faidherbia albida trees were planted in farms. In Senegal, the Despite the multiple benefits of improved land and water presence of Piliostigma reticulatum and Guiera management, adoption by smallholders remains limited senegalensis shrubs in fields has increased nutrient- in most regions. Some of the commonly cited barriers use efficiency over sole crop systems, and has helped include a lack of awareness of the appropriate practices to create “islands of fertility” that have greater and their benefits, as well as low levels of investment in soil organic matter, nitrogen, and phosphorus knowledge dissemination. In many cases, national policies concentrations under their canopies than in open and legislation do not provide sufficient incentives— areas. such as secure land tenure and property rights—to 2. Conservation agriculture. In Zambia, maize yields stimulate farmers to invest in improved land and water in conservation agriculture systems with crop management. Many smallholder farmers are not reached rotation can be more than 50 percent higher than by extension agents at all. And where extension does yields under conventionally tilled maize. exist, too often agroforestry, conservation agriculture, and other improved land and water management practices are 3. Rainwater harvesting. Farmers in Burkina Faso insufficiently integrated. have doubled grain yields using multiple water harvesting techniques, including stone bunds and Still, there is vast potential to scale up the improved planting pits. management of land and water resources as an integral 4. Integrated soil fertility management. In West component of agricultural development strategies. In Africa, adoption of integrated soil fertility Sub-Saharan Africa, conditions are ripe for investing in management across more than 200,000 hectares agroforestry and other improved practices on croplands resulted in yield increases of 33–58 percent over a four-year period, and revenue increases of 179 percent from maize and 50 percent from cassava and cowpea. 2 | Improving Land and Water Management covering more than 300 million hectares. If improved with local communities, international partners and land and water management practices were implemented development assistance organizations—can take these on just 25 percent of this cropland to increase crop yields improved practices to scale by investing in knowledge by an average of 50 percent, farmers would produce 22 management, communication, and outreach, which will million more tons of food per year. Such a scale-up could help restore agricultural productivity, enhance rural potentially provide 285 million people living in Africa’s livelihoods, and contribute to a sustainable food future. drylands with an additional 615 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day. LAND, WATER, AND FOOD The productivity of degraded agricultural land can be In the first installment of the World Resources Report’s restored and crop yields boosted if tens of millions of Creating a Sustainable Food Future working paper smallholder farmers were motivated to invest their labor series (Box 1), we show that the world faces a great and their limited financial resources in these proven land balancing act of three needs. It needs to close a 6,500 and water management practices. This working paper trillion kilocalories (kcal) per year global gap between proposes seven pathways to accelerate scale-up of these the food available in 2006 and that required in 2050— improved practices: approximately a 69 percent increase in needed calories— 1 1. Strengthen knowledge management systems and to adequately feed the planet. It needs agriculture to access to information. contribute to economic and social development. And it needs agriculture to reduce its impact on climate, water, 2. Increase communication and outreach in ways that and ecosystems. amplify the voices of champions and leverage direct engagement with farmers. Throughout the Creating a Sustainable Food Future 3. Support institutional and policy reforms, particularly series, we explore a menu of solutions that could combine for strengthening property rights. to meet these needs. One menu item is to improve 4. Support capacity building, particularly in land and water management