Unlocking the Development Potential of Drylands: Lessons from Ethiopia and Uganda

Unlocking the Development Potential of Drylands: Lessons from Ethiopia and Uganda

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Unlocking the Development Potential of Drylands: Lessons from Ethiopia and Uganda

January 26, 2015

Drylands are challenging environments where human ingenuity, knowledge systems, and the careful use of natural resources are essential for survival. Over the years, communities and farmers in the drylands have developed strategies to maintain the quality and quantity of these scarce resources in the face of rapidly changing socioeconomic and environmental conditions. But an increasingly variable climate coupled with unprecedented population growth, particularly of young people, is sure to intensify the problems of limited access to natural resources.


Drylands include arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid lands and cover more than 41 percent of the earth’s land surface. They are home to 2 billion people, many of whom depend on the natural resources, biodiversity and agro-biodiversity of these lands for all aspects of their livelihood including
food, water, fuel and building materials.


In the drylands, there is more livestock in arid areas and more cropland in dry, sub-humid areas. Pastoralism, however, remains the most widespread land-use system in the drylands. Mobile pastoralism in the drylands provides a highly efficient way of managing the sparse vegetation, relatively low fertility of drylands soils and extremely high seasonal variability of rainfall. It is estimated that drylands rangelands support about 50 percent of the world’s livestock. Beyond pastoralism, drylands have great economic and ecological potential, including products such as gum Arabic, gum talha, frankincense and myrrh, medicinal plants such as aloe vera, biofuels such as Jatropha, and more.


Even though most agricultural production in the drylands is seasonal and subject to the challenges posed by land degradation, highly volatile climatic variability and water scarcity, these areas also offer opportunities. According to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, the drylands of sub-Saharan Africa harbour great cultural and biological diversity, which are valuable resources for building sustainable rural livelihoods. Indeed, some 44 percent of the world’s cultivated systems are in the drylands. Furthermore, high-yielding agricultural production has been linked to improved access to farming inputs including certified seeds, knowledge, appropriate technology,
access to markets and the adoption of improved agricultural practices.

Both Ethiopia and Uganda have a large percentage of drylands so their development is highly dependent upon the efficient and effective use of these areas.

Document Type
Regions and Countries