The impact of climate change on the interactions between water, energy and food systems in the Victoria Nile Sub-Basin

Abstract

Water and energy are crucial resources for agricultural production. These resources remain very limited to most farmers in Uganda resulting in food insecurity while climate change is expected to worsen the situation. Therefore, this study aims to access the impact of climate change on the interaction between water, energy and food systems in the Victoria Nile Sub-basin using HadGEM2-ES model simulation data. The Crops Water Requirement (CWR) and Crops Irrigation Requirement (CIR) for two strategic crops (maize and rice) in four agro-climatic zones were simulated using CROPWAT model under two climatic scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) while the crop productivity/yield was simulated using AquaCrop model. In addition, the impact of climate change on the pumping energy demand for irrigation was assessed. Results indicate that climate change has a significant negative impact on CWR, CIR and the subsequent pumping energy demand as well as crop yield. Interestingly there is an increase in rice production for the August to December season in all the agro-ecological zones. The study highly recommends on farm adaptation strategies to overcome the adverse effect of climate change.