Project Title: Improving Water Productivity of Crop-Livestock Systems of Sub-Saharan Africa

IWMI Theme: Land, Water and Livelihoods

Project Duration: 

2007-2010

Geographical Focus: 

Ethiopia and Zimbabwe

This project aims to optimize productive use of water to increase incomes and improve the environment, within crop-livestock systems in the semi-arid areas of Southern Africa and the Blue Nile basin. Zimbabwe and Ethiopia exemplify the situation in these areas, where water scarcity is a principle constraint, and available water is used ineffectively, partly because livestock are poorly managed and continue to be ignored in water policy decisions and development programs. The project will focus on biophysical optimization and resource governance, and apply a water productivity framework, suitable for crop-livestock systems, to diagnosis entry points for intervention. The project is a collaborative activity that will contribute to the CGIAR System-wide Livestock Programme. It will develop a set of technically feasible, socially appealing, and institutionally sustainable options and promote these among policymakers, managers, and farmers via workshops, field visits, targeted technical publications, and manuals. International public goods outputs will be disseminated in peer-reviewed publications, and via on-line and other media.

Partners 

• Center for Development Research (ZEF), Bonn, Germany
• International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopiaa.
• International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Zimbabwe
• Department of Agricultural Research and Extension (AREX), Matopos Research Station, Zimbabwe
• Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute (ARARI), Ethiopia

Donors

Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ)