Planting soy in the state of Paraná, Brazil (photograph via Flickr by Dami Izolan). Daniel Kfouri reports in the New York Times that Brazil’s ‘$7 billion agreement signed last month—to produce six million tons of soybeans a year—is one of several struck in recent weeks as China hurries to shore up its food security and offset … Continue reading
In ILRI’s Forage Genebank on the ILRI campus in Addis Ababa, Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, and Jean Hanson, former head of ILRI’s Genebank, examine seed that was sent a few years ago for safe duplicate storage in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, located in the Norwegian Arctic Circle (photo … Continue reading
Workers unload milk cans at a commercial dairy plant in Dimapur, Nagaland, India (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). A blog in the Guardian this week argues for the G20 agriculture ministers meeting this week to support ‘new investment in farming and vibrant, transparent markets to address food security.’ ‘As the G20 agriculture ministers prepare to meet for the … Continue reading
ILRI scientist Polly Ericksen says that areas that will be hit hardest by climate change are areas where farmers are already struggling due to new weather patterns (image credit: ILRI/Anita Ghosh). Julio Godoy reported yesterday in Inter Press Service Africa (IPS) on the climate change meeting in Bonn, saying that climate change is putting African … Continue reading
Rose Mnjemo with soya beans, a maize, soya and cassava farmer from Khulungira Village, in central Malawi (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). Agence France Presse reports on a 2012 international study that found that climate change is on track to disrupt lifeline food crops across large swathes of Africa and Asia already mired in chronic poverty. More … Continue reading
The July 2011 issue of Livestock Science is a compilation of papers addressing different aspects of the sustainability of animal production systems. According to the editorial introduction, animal production systems are facing large challenges because of their effects on the environment, emerging zoonotic diseases, welfare issues and negative contribution to human health. Unfortunately these negative … Continue reading
Warm welcome The ‘Improving the Productivity and Market Success of Ethiopian farmers (IPMS)’ project held its ‘Experience-Sharing workshop’ on June 2 and 3 at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Addis Ababa. After 5 years of continuous engagement in 10 Pilot Learning Woredas (PLW), it was time to take stock of the results. Welcome … Continue reading
Last week, The ‘Improving the Productivity and Market Success of Ethiopian farmers (IPMS)’ project held an experience-sharing workshop at ILRI. Part of the workshop included blind taste tests for participants to assess 5 commodities promoted by the project. See the results: Continue reading
A recent workshop by the Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health (LCIRAH) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)’s Agriculture and Health Research Platform brought together health, nutrition and agriculture specialists to explore the development of common tools and methods to evaluate integrated agri-health interventions. More on the workshop Download the … Continue reading
ILRI’s Polly Erickson presents the results of her study, Mapping Hotspots of Climate Change and Food Insecurity in the Global Tropics, produced for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), at a seminar at the World Agroforestry Centre (photo credit: ILRI/MacMillan). The US News and World Report writes about a recent study … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 