Livestock reduce poverty in Asia – Stories from IFAD

Posted on 19 Aug 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

TagCloud from the International Fund for Agricultural Research (image credit: IFAD). An Asia and Pacific newsletter published by the International Fund for Agricultural Research (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations that works to eradicate poverty and hunger in developing countries, has published a new edition, on the topic of livestock. IFAD projects supporting poultry … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Film and video / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Insured livestock keepers in Kenya may receive first insurance payments

Posted on 17 Aug 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

In Kenya’s drylands, drought has always been the greatest hazard faced by livestock herding families. Modern pressures are making this situation worse. This film tells the story of a research project started in 2007, which in 2010 introduced a new form of insurance to remote herding peoples who had never been provided with insurance before. … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Eritrea / Ethiopia / Kenya / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / Somalia / Vulnerability

‘Nothing works as well as pastoralism in dryland areas’–Simon Levine, ODI

Posted on 16 Aug 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Nine-year-old livestock herder near Kitengela town, outside Nairobi, at the height of the 2008–2009 drought in this region; dryland peoples in East Africa are both restricted and marginalized (photo on Flickr by Jeff Haskins). Simon Levine says in an opinion piece in the New Agriculturist this month that the current famine in the Horn of … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Mobile herding must remain mobile to stay viable in Kenya’s arid north, say researchers

Posted on 16 Aug 2011 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

Rendille livestock herders in northern Kenya, near Lake Turkana (photo on Flickr by Robin Hutton). ‘Mobile herding or pastoralism remains the most economically viable production system for the drylands of Kenya and should be encouraged, according to livestock experts. Because of the current drought, there have been calls for local communities to shift to crop … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / USA / Vulnerability

The long and short of it: Put as much effort into building resilience as into feeding the hungry–BBC’s Andrew Harding

Posted on 15 Aug 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Goats drinking water at an Oxfam-funded borehole in Dilmanyale Village, South Wajir District, in northern Kenya; many people move to the village because of this water source, but once the animals have finished drinking they must walk over 10 km to get to pasture (photo on Flickr by Anna Ridout/ Oxfam International). Andrew Harding, the BBC’s … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Food Security / Kenya

The bigger picture: We can no longer afford random acts of (unconnected) aid

Posted on 13 Aug 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Roger Thurow, US journalist and senior fellow for Global Agriculture and Food Policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, describes the paradox of great harvest and great hunger existing at the same time in Kenya, a country he often visits and reports on. ‘It is less than two hundred miles from the village of … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Farming Systems / Food Security / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability

Hillary Clinton at IFPRI urges US government to invest in, not cut, a ‘Feed the Future’ program giving farm aid to Africa

Posted on 12 Aug 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) on 11 August 2011 about the need to invest in aid for small-scale farmers in Africa and other poor regions as well as help in mitigating the ongoing drought/hunger/famine crisis in the Horn of Africa (photo credit: Yassir Islam, HarvestPlus). … Continue reading →

Climate Change / Drought / East Africa / Eritrea / Ethiopia / Food Security / Geodata / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability

We had effective famine early warning systems in place in the Horn: So what went wrong?

Posted on 11 Aug 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Village scene in Gash-Barka, a region of Eritrea considered a breadbasket and with some 3.5 million head of livestock (photo on Flickr by Charles Fred). Scientist Chris Funk, who is part of a Climate Hazard Group at the University of California at Santa Barbara and also works with the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), … Continue reading →

CCAFS / Climate Change / Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / Somalia / Vulnerability

Is famine in the Horn of Africa linked to climate change or not?

Posted on 8 Aug 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Duncan Green, director of research at Oxfam GB, in the Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog today, argues that whether or not the more frequent droughts occurring in the Horn of Africa are due to human-enhanced ‘climate change’, and whether or not this region is likely to get wetter or drier in future (neither of which we can … Continue reading →

Agriculture / CCAFS / Climate Change / Drought / East Africa / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya

Daily Nation calls on scientists to ‘come out boldly’ to help Kenya adapt to climate change