Across most of Africa and South Asia, most cattle, buffaloes, sheep and goats are still raised in the open, in rangeland, common land or backyard systems, and are still largely ‘grass-fed’. But that is changing fast as farm land holdings get smaller and range and common lands and migratory herding corridors disappear under development. Above, … Continue reading
Donut diagram by Oxfam’s Kate Raworth illustrating a safe and just space for humanity, inspired by Rockström’s 2009 diagram of nine planetary boundaries constituting an environmental ceiling, or ‘a safe operating space for humanity’ (source: ‘Can we live inside the doughnut?‘). SciDevNet this week reports that ‘Beginning in 2013, CGIAR will pump an extra $US … Continue reading
Women herding camels in Kenya (photo on Flickr by Curt Carnemark/World Bank Photo Collection). Polly Ericksen, a senior scientist with the People, Livestock and Environment Theme at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), announced to the ILRI community last Friday new funding from the European Union that will finance a three-year food security project that … Continue reading
‘The real question about green growth is whether it can fulfil its promise that poor countries can have both greenery and prosperity.’–Economist. An example of an ‘investment-hungry project’ that can bring high environmental as well as poverty-reduction returns is greater adoption of improved dual purpose ‘food-feed’ crops whose grain feeds people and whose residues after … Continue reading
Petroglyphs and pictographs in the Jebel Acacus, Libyan Sahara (photo on Flickr by Carsten ten Brink / 10b travelling). This month’s publication of a scientific article on new evidence of livestock herding in prehistoric Africa is stirring interest. ScienceDaily, for example, reports the following: Chemical analysis of pottery reveals first dairying in Saharan Africa nearly 7,000 years … Continue reading
Figurine of a Cycladic (Keros-Syros culture) woman, dated to 2700–2400 BC and said to be from Syros (photo on Flickr by Ann Wuyts/vintagedept). Tara Garnett, in the current issue of her always-interesting Food Climate change Research Network (FCRN) newsletter, draws attention to some sobering news and advice for decision-makers attending the Rio+20 UN Conference on … Continue reading
ILRI is working with insurance companies to train livestock herders in Kenya’s northern drylands in the benefits and costs of a new index-based livestock insurance first made available in Marsabit District in 2010 (photo credit: ILRI/Andrew Mude). CNN has published a major story on a major breakthrough—a project that is insuring never-before-insured livestock herders in … Continue reading
Rain clouds over a farming village near Iringa, Tanzania; time is running out for forging a new pact at Rio+20 this month for the world’s sustainable development and food security (photo on Flickr by United Nations/Wolff). The BBC environment correspondent Richard Black reports today that time is running out for countries now negotiating key issues … Continue reading
Football legend Raul Gonzalez, Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), learns while speaking to goat herders in Chad that protecting people’s livestock is essential for preventing them from falling into the danger zone during the current food crisis. Livestock will also be essential, the people say, for helping them to … Continue reading
Farm landscape in Lalibela, northern Ethiopia (photo on Flickr by Philip Kromer). ‘In the run-up to RIO+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), CGIAR, the global agricultural research partnership, issued a call-to-action. In this seven-point plan, CGIAR outlines how agricultural research for development can contribute to a more sustainable, food-secure future. ‘Bruce Campbell, Director … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 