Kenya is vulnerable to avian flu given its position along migratory bird routes and proximity to other high risk countries. This raises concern about the effect an outbreak could have on economic development. We use a dynamic computable general equilibrium model of Kenya to simulate potential outbreaks of different severities, durations and geographic spreads. Results … Continue reading »
Monthly Archives: March 2010
Fish tales
Genetically modified fish could soon be on the table The Belgian blue is an ugly but tasty cow that has 40% more muscle than it should have. It is the product of random mutation followed by selective breeding—as, indeed, are all domesticated creatures. But where an old art has led, a new one may follow. … Continue reading »
Writing effective scientific reports
This ILRI learning module by Sylvester Dickson Baguma Ponniah Anandajayasekeram and Ranjitha Puskur on Writing convincing research proposals and effective scientific reports, Part B: scientific writing was released on 24 March, 2010. During one of the interactions between the management of the Capacity Strengthening Unit, and the Graduate Fellows of ILRI, the students identified the … Continue reading »
New program aims to mitigate climate threats to food security
A new multimillion dollar research program by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research aims to alleviate climate-related threats to the food security, livelihoods and environment of people living in the developing world. One of the key intellectual forces behind this initiative has been the International Research Institute for Climate and Society’s Jim Hansen. He’ll … Continue reading »
Agriculture / ILRI / PA / Research
Farmers want to see the benefits of research
“Farmers are tired of people going to take water samples, soil samples, crop samples. They are fatigued. Farmers want to see benefits.” Mary Njenga, agricultural researcher, Kenya View the video… (GCARD) Continue reading »
Managing the risk of emerging diseases: From rhetoric to action
In the last fifteen years the world witnessed the emergence of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or Mad Cow disease in the United Kingdom, Hendra virus in Australia, Nipah virus in Malaysia, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in China, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) or Bird Flu in Southeast Asia, and most recently Pandemic H1N1 Influenza, … Continue reading »
Are Gates and CGIAR a good mix for Africa?
International agricultural development acquired a significant new player last December when the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — the biggest private foundation in the world, with US$37 billion under its control — announced that it was joining the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). When the Gates Foundation launched its own agricultural programmes a … Continue reading »
Writing a convincing research proposal
This ILRI learning module by Sylvester Dickson Baguma Ponniah Anandajayasekeram and Ranjitha Puskur on Writing convincing research proposals and effective scientific reports. Part A: writing a convincing proposal was released on 24 March, 2010. The growth in agricultural research investment was very rapid in the 1970s and slowed down since the mid 1980s. The rate … Continue reading »
PNG tribal life holds key to animal disease research
In the Papua New Guinea Highlands, people live in much the same way as they have for centuries. But even in these far reaches, technology is making its first tentative steps into this subsistence way of life. Villagers have been wooed by the lure of mobile telephones, provided to them by companies which are using … Continue reading »
“Livestock and Climate Change” and soil organisms
Eventually, if livestock agriculture gets totally out of hand, the soil will be depleted of carbon and the plants, livestock and humans will all die; but because there’s so much carbon in the soil, we’ll have runaway global warming long before that happens. Thus, livestock are critical to the climate change issue. Read more … … Continue reading »
