Mitigación del cambio climático y producción de alimentos seguros con agua regenerada en Cabo Verde.

Abstract

Cape Verde is a semiarid country where lack of rainfall exacer bates the scarce resources available for livestock which, there fore, make it very vulnerable to climate change. By providing re claimed water (RW) for irrigation, it is possible to decrease forage importation, promoting development and food sovereignty. The aim of this study is to assess the feasibility of subsurface drip ir rigation (SDI) compared to drip irrigation (DI) and of reclaimed wa ter (RW) versus conventional groundwater (CW), for the sustain able and safe production of the Sorghum bicolor Payenne variety. A forage yield of 200 t fresh matter ha/year, irrigated by RW, was obtained. The best irrigation water use effi ciency was obtained by RWSDI (200 L/kg dry matter compared to RWDI. Ntot-Ptot Ca-Mg and Na values were signifi cantly higher in the RW plants than in the conventional water ones. All the fi ber values meet the Nos. 2 and 3 quality standards, and the Prime and No. 1 for neutral detergent fi ber (NDF) and acid detergent fi ber (ADF), respectively. The obtained good forage quality with RW will allow to avoid the competence of conventional water and to reuse nutrients added by RW. If generalized this solution would be reduce forage impor tation, improving food sovereignty and farmers’ profi tability, and would enhance resilience against climate change eff ects.