Impact of water scarcity on dryland sheep meat production and quality: Key recovery and resilience strategies

Water scarcity is among key the challenges facing sheep production in the arid and semiarid areas, and is predicted to worsen in future. Despite sheep in dry areas being capable of surviving relatively long periods with little water, deficiency of this essential nutrient produces lightweight carcasses and dark, dry and less tender meat. Responses to impacts of water scarcity have often been reactive rather than proactive, focusing on crisis rather than risk management. To effectively minimise the impact of water scarcity on dryland sheep meat production and quality, water-scarce countries should adopt a new paradigm for water management aimed at risk reduction. This entails identification and adoption of a menu of local recovery and resilience interventions spanning the spectrum from management of water, feed and animals to human resources capacitation. Most of the existing recovery and resilience strategies in water-scarce sheep producing countries have, however, not been widely adopted due to lack of evidence, resources, and adaptive capacity. The current review, therefore, discusses the impacts of water scarcity on sheep meat production and quality, and identifies a portfolio of local recovery and resilience strategies for adoption by dryland countries.