Author Archives: Susan MacMillan

Biodiversity / Drylands / East Africa / Environment / Ethiopia / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Tanzania / Vulnerability / Wildlife

‘Green land grabs’: Livestock herders access to rangelands is being lost for conservation purposes

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Serengeti tree (photo credit: Jeff Haskins). ‘In the great plains of northern Tanzania, close to the world-famous Serengeti National Park, a bitter row has broken out over an attempt to designate 1,500sqkm of Loliondo District as a game-controlled area. ‘The Maasai herdsmen in the area say their cattle cannot survive without access to traditional dry-season … Continue reading →

Feeds / Forages / Goats / Markets / Small Ruminants / Southern Africa / Value Chains / Zimbabwe

Small stock connections lead to better business for goat keepers in Zimbabwe

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Feed is scarce for livestock in the dry season, farmers can lose up to 30% of their herds in these three months (photo on Flickr by ICRISAT/Swathi Sridharan). Willie Dar, director general of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), highlights the success of taking a ‘value chain’ approach to improving goat … Continue reading →

Animal Products / Cattle

On the artisanal nature of butchery (or more than you ever wanted to know about the natural history of cuts of beef)

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Our online travels today offer us juxtapositions as unexpected (and as oddly fruitful) as any physical safari to the heart of Africa or other continent. Today, for example, we can be reading software-mogul-turned philanthropist Bill Gates on the brave-new-world of laboratory grown meat (‘How food scientists are reinventing meat — and how it can benefit … Continue reading →

Article / Drylands / East Africa / Environment / Ethiopia / Pastoralism / Policy / Vulnerability

Cash crops vs cattle pastures: Converting pastoral lands into irrigated croplands in Africa benefits few

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Ethiopian rangeland (photo credit: ILRI/Dave Elsworth). ‘Cotton, sugar, palm oil… you name it. Most governments in the developing world believe such plantation cash crops must be a better use of land, and must deliver greater economic returns, than cattle pastures. That’s what most of the current land grabs in Africa are about. That’s why the … Continue reading →

Agri-Health / Animal Production / Emerging Diseases / Food Safety / Human Health / ILRI / Intensification / Livestock Systems / Pigs / Poultry

Misuse of antibiotics and ‘factory farming’ of animals: Alarm bells sound

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‘The Spoonful of Milk’ by Marc Chagall, 1912 (via WikiPaintings). ‘. . . It is estimated that about 70% of the world’s antibiotics are fed to farm animals: the precise amount used in agriculture is poorly recorded. But what seems sure — as the number of intensively farmed animals grows — is that their use increases too, … Continue reading →

Dairying / East Africa / ILRI / Launch / LIVESTOCKFISH / Markets / Project / Tanzania / Value Chains

Dairy market hubs giving Tanzanian farmers better access to services given funding boost

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Irish Minister of State for Trade and Development, Joe Costello, signs the guest book at the MoreMikIT office launch in Morogoro, Tanzania, 12 Mar 2013; witnessing the event are ILRI’s Amos Omore and Stuart Worsley (second and third from left) (photo credit: ILRI/Amos Omore). ‘Ireland’s minister of state for Development and Trade Joe Costello earlier this … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / ILRI / Markets / Report

Africa’s food market could reach trillion dollars by 2030–World Bank

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The Butcher Shop by Ferdnand Leger, 1921 (via WikiPaintings). ‘A World Bank report launched last week has suggested that Africa’s farmers and agribusinesses could create a trillion-dollar food market by 2030. ‘However, the pre-condition for such a development would be for agri-business SMEs to expand their access to more capital, electricity, better technology and irrigated … Continue reading →

Dairying / Drylands / Feeds / ILRI / Intensification / Launch / Pakistan / Pastoralism / Project / Small Ruminants / South Asia

Four-year US$30-million Agricultural Innovation Project launched in Pakistan

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A flock of Makhi Cheeni goats near Hasilpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan (photo credit: ILRI/M Sajjad Khan). ‘The US Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) launched a new project to expand the use of modern technologies in Pakistan’s agriculture sector. ‘PARC Chairman Dr … Continue reading →

Cattle / Climate Change / Drylands / Environment / Food Security / Forages / Goats / Pastoralism / Presentation / Sheep / Small Ruminants / Soils / USA / Vulnerability / Wildlife

Want to green the world’s deserts? Do the unthinkable: Put livestock back on them — Allan Savory

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Watch this new provocative 22-minute TedTalk by Allan Savory on ‘How to green the world’s deserts and reverse climate change’. Alan Savory, a Zimbabwean-born biologist/ecologist and rangelands specialist, gives environmentalists pause in a recent TedTalk, published 4 Mar 2013, on the ‘cancer’ of desertification of the world’s drylands, which make up some two-thirds of the … Continue reading →

Article / Event / Film and video / Food Security / Ghana / Human Health / Nutrition / USA / West Africa / Women

Got milk? (or meat or eggs)? The missing ingredients in global nutritional security

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Hidden Hunger from Bob Caputo on Vimeo. Watch this handsomely made film (with superb writing as well as videography), produced in 2010 by National Geographic‘s Bob Caputo (run-time: 26 minutes). ‘Malnutrition does not make headlines the way famine does. But it is far more widespread and deadly. Globally, it affects more than a billion people. It is … Continue reading →