Key Linkages Between Agriculture & Sanitation:

New OpportunitiesArno Rosemarin

Research & Communications ManagerEcoSanRes Programme

Stockholm Environment Institute

The Agriculture Challenge• 800 million people living in 46 countries are malnourished • 40,000 die every day of hunger and hunger-related diseases• famine currently threatens nine African countries, where the

lives of 20 million people are at risk• some 75-80% of Africa's farmland is degraded• Africa loses between 30-60kg of nutrients per ha per yr - the

highest rate in the world• the countries in Africa with the highest rates of depletion:

Guinea, Congo, Angola, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda at 60kg/ha

• 2002/03 Sub-Saharan Africa used 8kg of fertiliser per ha• compare this to South America (80kg), North America (98kg),

Western Europe (175kg), East Asia (202kg), South Africa (61 kg) & North Africa (69kg)

• cost of fertiliser in the US is $150/t; in landlocked African countries as high as $600/t due largely to the severe underdevelopment of transport infrastructure - rail and road

Geo-4 UNEP, 2007

The Sanitation Challenge

• 5000-6000 children die every day in the world due to water-borne diseases linked to lack of basic sanitation

• 700 million people in 50 countries eat food from crops irrigated with untreated sewage

• there are 60 million DALYs (per years) lost from diarrhea every year

• 3.5 billion people are infected with helminth worm parasites

• half the world lacks proper sanitation systems• meeting this the largest MDG target will have a

cross-sectoral social impact improving livelihoods and general productivity

• productive sanitation linked to agriculture can provide new growth opportunities for poor countries

Number of toilets per thousand householdsto be installed through to 2015 to meet the MDGs

Burundi

Tajikistan

Ethiopia

Yemen

Eritrea

Bhutan

Kyrgyzstan

Nepal

Rwanda

Liberia

Cambodia

Laos

Haiti

Moldova

Mongolia

Solomon Islands

Nigeria

TogoGuinea-Bissau

Madagascar

Uganda

Chad

Uzbekistan

Kenya

Central African Rep.

Bangladesh

Papua New Guinea

Ghana

Comoros

Mozambique

Mali

China

Tanzania

Azerbaijan

Niger

Nicaragua

Bolivia Morocco

Turkmenistan

Indonesia

Vanuatu

Guinea

BeninIndia

Syria

Congo

Gambia

Honduras

Zambia

Guyana

Burkina Faso

Ecuador

Vietnam

Iran

Malawi

Pakistan

Paraguay

Zimbabwe

Jordan

El SalvadorEgypt

Mauritania

Cameroon

Sudan

Tunisia

Dominican Rep.

Cote d'Ivoire

Peru

Algeria

Colombia

Kazakhstan

Turkey

Djibouti

Senegal Guatemala

Philippines

Samoa

Belize

Cape Verde

Lesotho

Brazil

Venezuela

Suriname

Costa Rica

Panama

Fiji

Swaziland

Maldives

Equatorial Guinea

Chile

Namibia

Oman

Gabon

Uruguay

Thailand

Sri Lanka

Jamaica

Mexico

Saudi Arabia

South Africa

Barbados

Botswana

Israel

Bahrain

Trinidad & Tobago

UAE

Mauritius

Cyprus

French Polynesia

Bahamas

GeorgiaArmenia

Singapore

Russian

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

100 1000 10000 100000

GDP per capita (constant 2000 $US)

To

ilets

per

'000

ho

use

ho

lds

Sanitation target 2015: Toilets per ‘000 households versus GDP per capita

Biofuels: Start of A New Green Revolution?

• of the 50 poorest countries in the world, 38 are net importers of petroleum & 25 import all their petroleum

• some now spend up to six times as much on fuel as they do on health

• while others spend double the amount allocated to poverty reduction on fuels

• biofuels will become a primary cash crop taking the most fertile soils while cereals and subsistence crops will occupy low-productivity soils

• competition for fertiliser: increases in costs for NPK

• competition with the food production sector: increase in food prices

Geo-4 UNEP, 2007

Mega Biofuel Projects• Ethanol

– Brazil has 30 yrs experience and 1.5 million farmers grow sugar cane for fuel

– Petrobras to increase ethanol exports to 9.4 million tons by 2010 from 2 million tons in 2005

– Several new processing plants in Europe (UK, Holland, France, Spain, Germany, etc.) and US

– SEKAB (Sweden) proposed in Tanzania and Mozambique from bagasse (1 billion Euros investment)

• Biodiesel– Jatropha plantations in Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar,

Brazil, India, Africa, Peru, Nepal, Saudi Arabia (8000 T/ha; 37% oil)

– Castorseed (1000 kg/ha; 35-55% oil)– Camelina seed (1700 kg/ha; 30-37% oil)– Palm oil (5000 kg oil/ha) – Malaysia: leading oil palm planters building two refineries in

Rotterdam to process >1 million tonnes of palm oil/yr– Rapeseed (3000 kg/ha)

Biofuels in Africa - Following Brazil’s Example?• Mozambique (Petromoc) increased its ethanol production by 60% to

170 million gallons in 2007– In collaboration with Brazil (INM), $400 million in new investments

• British Sun Biofuels Plc invested $20 million in a 9,000 ha jatropha biofuel project in Tanzania

• Indian Gov - $250 million to the West African Development Bank (BOAD) for investment in biofuel production

• Nigeria plans to build over two dozen ethanol plants with assistance from Brazil by 2010

• The South Africa Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Program – in 2006 food costs for poor rural dwellers rose by 9.6% and urban by

8.3%– foodstuffs linked to biofuel production rose by 10.7% (grain), 11.8%

(oils) and 12.8% (sugar) in rural areas• South Africa’s biofuels strategy hopes to achieve a market

penetration of 4.5% of liquid road transport fuels by 2013• Overseas Development Institute: “Africa’s biomass production

potential is five times higher then that of the UK”• In 2006, 15 African countries formed the Pan-African Non-

Petroleum Producers Association (led in Senegal), aimed in part at developing a biofuels industry in the continent

Trends in Global Fertiliser Consumption

Geopolitical Perils: Global Fertiliser Supply is Controlled by Just 8 Countries

• Nitrogen: – 97% of the world’s nitrogen fertilisers are derived from ammonia

produced from methane– natural gas available in >60 countries produce this type of

fertiliser

• Phosphate: – derived from mined phosphate rock– 3 countries extract 77 per cent of the world’s phosphate rock

Morocco & Western Sahara, China and USA

• Potassium: – derived from mined potassium salts– global potassium supply is limited to 5 countries – Canada,

Russia, Germany, Belarus and Brazil

Phosphate Rock Reserves, 1997-2006 (from USGS summaries)

0

2 000 000

4 000 000

6 000 000

8 000 000

10 000 000

12 000 000

14 000 000

16 000 000

18 000 000

20 000 000

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

1000

to

ns

ph

osp

hat

e ro

ck

Other countries

Tunisia

Togo

Syria

South Africa

Senegal

Russia

Morocco and W. Sahara

Kazakhstan

Jordan

Israel

India

Egypt

China

Canada

Brazil

Australia

United States

China

Morocco

US

South Africa

Jordan

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

Other countries

United States

Tunisia

Togo

Syria

South Africa

Senegal

Russia

Morocco and W. Sahara

Jordan

Israel

India

Egypt

China

Canada

Brazil

Australia

years left at 2% annual increase

Phosphate Rock - Years of Extraction Remaining Based on Current Economic Reserves from 2006 (2% annual increase)

Source: USGS

Closing the Nutrient and Water Cycles

Key Components of a Community Productive Sanitation System

Sub-Saharan Africa Self-Sufficient Fertiliser Supply

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

120.0%

DevelopedRegions

East Asia Eurasia LatinAmerica and

theCarribbean

North Africa Oceania South-eastAsia

SouthernAsia

Sub-saharanAfrica

West Asia

Pot

entia

lly R

ecyc

led

Nut

rien

ts a

s %

of U

tiliz

atio

n fo

r To

tal P

opul

atio

n n

200

2

Nitrogen PhosphorusSource: FAOstat (2005)

China

India

USA

Indonesia

Brazil

Pakistan

Russia

Bangladesh

Japan

Nigeria

Mexico

Germany

Vietnam

Philippines

EgyptTurkey

Ethiopia

Iran

Thailand

France

UK

Italy

DR Congo

Ukraine

Myanmar

Rep. of Korea

South Africa

Colombia

Spain

PolandArgentina

Tanzania

Sudan

Kenya

Canada

Algeria Morocco

Peru UzbekistanVenezuela

Uganda

Nepal

Malaysia

Saudi Arabia

DPR Korea

Romania

Ghana

Australia

Sri Lanka

Mozambique

Syria

Madagascar

Cote d'Ivoire

Netherlands

Cameroon

Chile

Kazakhstan

Zimbabwe

Ecuador

Burkina Faso

Mali

Guatemala

Malawi

Niger

Cuba

Greece

Zambia

Serbia & Montenegro

Belgium

Czech Rep.

Portugal

Belarus

Hungary

Senegal

Tunisia

Sweden

Bolivia

Dominican Rep.Guinea

Chad

RwandaHaiti

Austria

Bulgaria

Switzerland

Honduras

Burundi

Benin

El Salvador

Israel

Paraguay

Laos

Libya Slovakia

Denmark

Nicaragua

Jordan

Finland

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

5500

10 100 1000 10000 100000

Annual Fertilzer Nitrogen Utilized (grams per capita)

Po

ten

tial

An

nu

al N

itro

gen

Rec

ycle

d f

rom

Hu

man

Exc

reta

(g

ram

s p

er c

apit

a)

N at 3,000 kcal/day diet

"Balanced" Utilization and Recycling of N

Source: FAOstat (2005)

Nitrogen chemical fertiliser utilized and potential recycled using ecological sanitation (2002)(countries with population greater than five million)

One day’s urine from an adult produces a kilo of food

Aquamor, Zimbabwe

Shift from Commodity-Based to Resource-Based Planning in Developing Countries

• governments need to educate and encourage farmers to adopt resource-based planning

• oriented to national and international market potentials and based on principles of economics, employment and ecology

• resource-based planning examines how the available land and water resources can best be utilized to achieve maximum and sustainable economic return to the farmer

• this shift can lead to diversification into commercial crops, such as fruits and vegetables, that generate significant increases in on-farm employment and incomes and act as a stimulus to downstream agro-industries

• central to this shift is the empowerment of rural women and skill development in seed production, horticulture, vegetables, and poultry to generate income

• it also includes promotion of micro-level credit institutions and savings programmes that can generate capital for the establishment of small rural enterprises

• it is within this context that the alternative fertiliser sources need to be placed

• productive sanitation can provide a resilient, readily available and cheap source of nutrients for this large stakeholder group

www.ecosanres.org

Arno Rosemarin, SEI