Study highlights new agric practices that can save millions and conserve resources

Experts and policy-makers meet to share key
findings from Ugandan and Indian national planning and
food security study
A shift in agricultural policy to encourage crop
diversification and use of new water and energy saving
technologies could save millions of hectare-metres (ha m)
of water annually, as well as millions of dollars in energy
costs, finds a new United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) and partner food security study.
The study, which was conducted in India and Uganda, finds
that in the Indian state of Punjab, shifting the dominant
cropping pattern from rice, to a mix of maize, cotton,
sugarcane, pulses, fodder, fruits, vegetables and agro-
forestry can bring a reduction in agricultural water use of
1.58 million ha m a year.
When water saving technologies and practices such as laser
leveling of the fields, direct seeding of rice, use of
tensiometers and zero tillage are also adopted, the savings
to the state of Punjab could potentially amount to 2.3
million ha m of water in agriculture annually.
The findings from the project titled Capacity-building in
national planning for food security, examined three different
scenarios in the Punjab state in India and Hoima District in
Uganda to analyse the implications of the trade-off and
synergies between ecosystem inputs and agricultural yields
and farm incomes.
Experts from Uganda's National Planning Authority and the
World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) will also discuss the
findings of the Ugandan pilot, including the financial returns
in terms of natural assets and carbon trading from sparing
land through agricultural intensification.
Uganda's agricultural sector produces only a quarter to half
of potential crop and livestock yields due to poor production
methods, despite favourable climatic conditions for food
production.
The study finds that only one-third of households in Uganda
reported being food secure throughout the year, with one-
tenth of these families facing food deficits for over six
months per year.
The study also finds that gender inequality in food
production is growing in the area under study. Women play
a critical role in food production in Hoima District, however
around one-fifth of households reported that only men are
receiving weather-related information.