Research Proposal and Policy Engagement on Climate Resilient and Nutritious Crops in Nigeria
1. Research Proposal and Policy Engagement on Climate
Resilient and Nutritious Crops in Nigeria
Dr. Kyle Frankel Davis and Dr. Olawale Emmanuel Olayide
19 January 2018, Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
2. Food Supply & Nutrition
Environmental Impacts
Farmer Livelihoods
Climate Resilience
The global food system must…
8. 290 Mm3 H2O
Water savings from
replacement
Feed
+51%
Protein
+19%
Calories
+10%
Green water
-14%
Blue water
-12%
...and potential for large water savings
Davis et al., 2017, Nature Geosci.
9. Unsustainable water use in agricultural
baskets
Davis et al., In revision
0
1
0.5
2
>2Ratio of water
demand to
availability
0
17.3 Current calorie
production
(1012 kcal)
10. 0
100
200
300
400
1983 1987 1993 1999 2004 2009 2011
Iron(mg/30days/cap)
0
50
100
150
200
250
1966 2009
Mtonnesproduction
Wheat
Shift to rice and wheat has depleted
nutrient supply
Davis et al., In revision; DeFries et al., In review
RiceMaize Sorghu
m
Pearl
millet
Finger
millet
11. How might water demand and
nutrient supply change under
scenarios of alternative cereal
production?
12. Scenarios of alternative cereals
Davis et al., In revision
No
replac
e
Maize Sorghu
m
Pearl
millet
Finger
millet
No rice
cultivation
Lowest
water
footprint
13. Benefits for reducing water scarcity
Davis et al., In revision
0 4.
8
Water savings from replacement (km3 H2O)
Lowest
water
footprint
14. 0
5
10
15
20
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Water Calories Protein Iron Zinc
0
5
10
15
20
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Water Calories Protein Iron Zinc
0
5
10
15
20
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Water Calories Protein Iron Zinc
Water use and nutrient supply of cereals
Davis et al., In revision
Green
(R)
Green
(I)
Blue (I)
Current
km3H2Oyr-1|1012
kcal
106tonnesprotein
|103tonnes
iron/zinc
15. Large potential benefits and minimal
tradeoffs
Davis et al., In revision
0
5
10
15
20
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Water Calories Protein Iron Zinc
0
5
10
15
20
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Water Calories Protein Iron Zinc
0
5
10
15
20
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Water Calories Protein Iron Zinc
Green
(R)
Green
(I)
Blue (I)
Current
Lowest
footprint
km3H2Oyr-1|1012
kcal
106tonnesprotein
|103tonnes
iron/zinc
17. Multidimensional perspective to inform policy in
Nigeria
• Possibility to save water AND increase food supply
• For India, increasing alternative cereals can have
important nutritional and environmental benefits
• But we need more information to identify what is best
for Nigeria
• Leveraging existing policies is key
• Thinking multidimensionally minimizes the risk of
18. Policy Engagements in Nigeria
• Do we need policy makers and researchers in promoting agricultural
transformation in Nigeria?
• How we are engaging policy makers and researchers
Agriculture is one of the most important ways by which humans and the environment interact. In the coming decades, the global food system will need to increase food production, enhance rural incomes and climate resilience, and minimize environmental impacts.
And potential solutions at meeting future demand include increasing crop yields and harvesting frequencies on currently cultivated lands, but these will likely entail substantial increases in demand for natural resources. So I performed a crop redistribution based on water use efficiency to examine to what extent it is possible to minimize water use and increase nutrient production within currently cultivated lands. And in doing so I found that there is a potential for large water savings as well as increases in calorie and protein production and feed supply. This shows that there are many places where crop production is inefficient in terms of water use and nutrient supply and suggests that factors such as crop subsidies have led to these distortions. And as you can see, India in particular is a place where large improvements in water use are possible.
And these inefficiencies have in large part been driven by the country’s increasing reliance on rice and wheat. And you can see that the production of rice and wheat have increased substantially, while the other cereals grown in India have taken a back seat. And this has also led to the decreased availability of key nutrient’s for the Indian population. And this trend has likely been influenced by a national Public Distribution System, where the government buys rice and wheat from farmers at a minimum guaranteed price and makes that rice and wheat available to low-income households. So with this in mind, its conceivable that by including some of these alternative cereals in the same Public Distribution System, it would be possible for the country to reverse these trends. So now I am collaborating with experts in the Indian School of Business to examine the question:
To do so, I considered several rice replacement scenarios. In the first, I replaced rice in each district with the crop with the lowest water footprint. In the second, rice was replaced by the most produced alternative crop, as long as the water footprint of that crop was lower than rice. And in the third, with the most consumed. And you can see that for the first and second scenarios, maize is the dominant replacing crop.
So then I summarized these results at the national level.