Monthly Archives: April 2011

Burundi / Central Africa / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food security / Kenya / PA / Rwanda / Somalia / Uganda

As pump prices rise, so do the costs of basic foodstuffs across eastern and central Africa

Posted on by • 1 Comment

Skyrocketing fuel and food prices are making Kenyans suffer; an undernourished child at the Kenya Coast drinks store-bought ‘maziwa lala’ (sour milk) (photo credit: ILRI/Elsworth). A policy brief published earlier this year by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) reports the following. ‘Three years after the 2007–08 food crisis, the prices of basic food items … Continue reading »

Climate Change / Drought / Ethiopia / Kenya / PA / Pastoralism / Somalia / Uganda

Deathly drumbeat of another drought in Africa’s Horn

Posted on by • Leave a comment

A cow felled by disease is skinned and left by the roadside in rural Ethiopia (picture credit: ILRI/Habtamu). ‘A drought in the Horn of Africa, triggered by the same La Niña episode that caused massive flooding in Australia last year, is plunging millions of pastoralists closer to food insecurity. ‘Parts of Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and … Continue reading »

Africa / Asia / Caribbean / Directorate / ILRI / Latin America / PA

Guyanese to head Kenya-based International Livestock Research Institute

Posted on by • Leave a comment

‘Jimmy Smith has been appointed the new director general designate of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya. ‘ILRI board chair Knut Hove made the announcement at the 35th meeting of the ILRI Board of Trustees, recently, to an afternoon gathering of ILRI staff, management and board. ‘In his announcement, Hove said, “We … Continue reading »

Animal Production / CRP11 / Drylands / ILRI / India / Innovation Systems / MarketOpps / Mozambique / PA / South Asia / Southern Africa / Trade / Value Chains / Women

Reducing hunger and poverty through goat ‘value chains’ in India and Mozambique

Posted on by • Leave a comment

In many of the world’s dry areas, goats provide poor people with nutrition and livelihoods. An imGoats Project is working to transform the lives of goat keepers in India and Mozambique by turning their subsistence-level goat production into viable and profitable enterprises. This two-year (2011–2012) project aims to improve the performance of small ruminant value … Continue reading »

Africa / Agriculture / Central Africa / East Africa / Innovation Systems / Research / Rwanda / Uganda

Innovation platforms for development oriented agricultural research

Posted on by • Leave a comment

A central question in African agriculture is how to catalyze a more competitive, equitable and sustainable agricultural growth within the context of smallholder production systems, inefficient agricultural marketing, inefficient investments by private sector, and a degradation-prone natural resources base. Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D) is a promising organizing concept that builds on the Innovation … Continue reading »

Drought / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Knowledge & Information / Livestock / PLE / Research

ILRI’s mobile-ICT based livestock insurance solution wins overall best innovation award at 2030 ICT Innovation Award ceremony

Posted on by • 1 Comment

Eleven companies received a Vision 2030 ICT Innovation Award at a ceremony held in Diani as part of the Kenya ICT Board’s Connected Kenya Summit. The Kenya ICT Board and the Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat invited companies that have developed solutions that drive economic growth and social development as outlined in Kenya’s Vision 2030 … Continue reading »

Caribbean / Directorate / ILRI / Livestock / PA / Research

ILRI’s new director general designate makes news in Guyana

Posted on by • Leave a comment

Jimmy Smith, livestock advisor at the World Bank giving keynote lecture at Tropentag 2010 conference (photo credit: Tropentag on Flickr). ‘Guyanese Jimmy Smith has been appointed the new Director General of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi Kenya. ‘The announcement was made by ILRI board chair Knut Hove at the 35th meeting of … Continue reading »

Africa / Animal Production / Livestock Systems / Pastoralism / PLE / Vulnerability

Pastoralism ‘alive and well’: Reflections from the Future Agricultures Consortium conference on pastoralism in Africa

Posted on by • Leave a comment

In March this year, the Future Agricultures Consortium and Tufts University organized a conference on the future of pastoralism in Africa. We invited some participants to reflect on the discussions in a short video interview. Ian Scoones from the Institute of Development Studies and the Future Agricultures Consortium concludes that pastoralism is ‘alive and well’ … Continue reading »

Biotech / Central Africa / Disease Control / East Africa / Kenya / PA / Southern Africa / Tanzania / Vaccines

ILRI mass-produced vaccine to protect livestock of poor herders against cancer-like disease

Posted on by • 2 Comments

Field trials of a new vaccine batch for East Coast fever produced at the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) are nearing completion; a Maasai woman from northern Tanzania holds her calf that has just been immunized against East Coast fever (picture credit: ILRI/Mann). ‘Thousands of pastoralists could be saved from destitution thanks to a … Continue reading »

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / Crop-Livestock / Food security / Latin America / Malawi / PA

No solution to food crisis without involvement of the world’s small-scale farmers

Posted on by • 1 Comment

Regina Frazer: Maize, potato, cassava, chicken, dove, pig and vegetable farmer in central Malawi (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). A Guardian blog post today argues that the world’s many small farmers are critical to solving the world’s food, and food price, crises. The blog says, ‘We should celebrate one of the largest but least recognised groups in … Continue reading »