Central Africa / East Africa / Event report / Geodata / ILRI / PIL

New web portal ‘AgInvest’ to track agricultural investments in Africa

Graphic recording of securing sustainable funding session at the ILRI Annual Program Meeting (APM 2013) 15–17 May 2013, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (credit: ILRI). ‘AgInvest, a new web portal that will track resource allocation to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) by governments, development partners and other stakeholders is set to be released in 2013. … Continue reading

Agriculture / CGIAR

Jimmy Smith and Frank Rijsberman speak out at FARA’s Africa Agriculture Science Week

ILRI director general Jimmy Smith (left) confers with Kanayo Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) at the 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW6), in Accra, Ghana, 15–20 Jul 2013, organized by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu). During the just-concluded sixth Africa Agriculture Science Week … Continue reading

Africa / Animal Feeding / ASSP / Capacity Strengthening / CapDev / Drylands / Event report / Farming Systems / Film and video / Fodder / ILRI / Innovation Systems / Intensification / Interview / Nigeria / Uganda / Vulnerability / Zimbabwe

Voices from the sixth Africa Agriculture Science Week 2013

Change mindsets, embed policymaking, make efficient use of declining biomass, engage the private sector. These and other recommendations of four participants attending the ongoing sixth Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW6) are captured in this short (2:40-minute) video. This science week, organized by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), is being held in Accra, … Continue reading

Animal Products / Article / Southern Africa / Value Chains

Zambeef: Indigenous Zambian company ‘makes good’ serving middle, as well as lower-income, groups

Cows wait to be milked at one of Zambia’s largest agribusinesses—Zambeef (photo credit: BBC World Service). A butchery run by Zambeef in Lusaka, Zambia, is ‘a fast-growing food company based in Lusaka. It operates meat counters at all 20 Shoprite stores across Zambia as well as in the chain’s newer outlets in Ghana and Nigeria. … Continue reading

Directorate / East Africa / Environment / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Southern Africa

Invest in Africa’s fast-growing livestock sector: The time is now, says ILRI’s Jimmy Smith

Florence Chepkirui, a blind dairy farmer in Saoset village in Kenya’s Bomet District (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu). The director general of the International Livestock Institute (ILRI) has called for significant investments in the development of Africa’s livestock sector, which he said is rapidly growing. Jimmy Smith told the told participants of a recent three-day Africa … Continue reading

Agriculture / Food Security / Report

Closing the agricultural yield gap: Small-scale farmers in developing countries are where it’s at

Ugandan smallholder farm landscape (photo credit: Neil Palmer/CIAT). A new report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) calls for ‘more nuanced policy-making to boost smallholder farm output, requiring better knowledge of individual farm households and the constraints they face, to be able to target investments and policy support where they are needed … Continue reading

Africa / Animal Breeding / Biotechnology / Film and video / Genetics / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / Interview / LiveGene

Saving the world’s genetic wealth: Scientists in Kenya propose plans for first livestock genebank

The indigenous, worm-resistant (and non-wool-producing) red Maasai sheep of East Africa (photo credit: ILRI). SciDevNet reports on a ‘livestock genebank’ that’s needed to help conserve breeds and populations of farm animals, especially the wealth of diversity remaining in Africa and other developing regions, that are fast being eroded through cross-breeding and importations of exotic stock. … Continue reading

Agriculture / CGIAR / Event report / Gender / ILRI / LIVESTOCKFISH / PIL / Research / Women

Experts set minimum standards for gender equity in agricultural research for development

Photo credit: CIAT/Neil Palmer. Last week, while leaders of CGIAR research program were meeting with donors and partners in Montpellier, France, to discuss progress and directions for their programs, gender specialists in agricultural research for development were also meeting in this Mediterranean coastal city. The gender experts came from the CGIAR Consortium, centres and programs, … Continue reading

Agriculture / Biodiversity / Environment / Food Security / Report

World’s 2.5 billion smallholder farmers are key to global food security and sustainability

Ezekial Rop, a smallholder farmer in Moiben, Kenya (photo credit: Jeff Haskins). ‘Supporting smallholder farmers to play a greater role in food production and natural resource stewardship is one of the quickest ways to lift over one billion people out of poverty and sustainably nourish a growing world population, a new United Nations report released … Continue reading

Animal Breeding / Biodiversity / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Film and video / FSZ / ILRI / Poultry / USA / Zoonotic Diseases

Heritage breed chickens: America’s new ‘gateway livestock’–Plus film on chicken boom in poor countries

New 5-minute ILRI film, New approaches to chicken farming reduce poverty without adding to disease risks.  ‘. . . Before he got into chickens, Bradshaw had raised pork and cattle on Greenfire Farms, his plot of land 12 miles west of Tallahassee, FL. Now Bradshaw has stopped farming cattle and pork entirely, fully dedicating his operations … Continue reading