Im Kampf gegen den Hunger hat die Weltgemeinschaft ihre Ziele verfehlt—so lautet die Bilanz vor dem Uno-Gipfel. Eine Wende muss her. Damit künftig neun Milliarden Menschen satt werden, sollten nicht Großfarmen, sondern Kleinbauern gefördert werden. Das Essen war knapp im vergangenen Sommer. Monatelang hatte es nicht geregnet. Dorca Mutua, 35, sah, wie erst ihr Kalb … Continue reading
Category Archives: Agriculture
Agriculture / Environment / Farming Systems / Food Security / NRM / WLE
A viable food future?
What kind of food production can: drastically reduce poverty, reduce climate change and cool the planet, restore biodiversity, soil fertility and water resources, improve livelihoods and provide employment for billions of people, produce enough, good, and nutritious food for 9 billion people or more? Find out what the Development Fund (of Norway) thinks Continue reading
Ethiopia: New Wheat Variety to Deal With Wheat-Killer Diseases
Gadab Assassa — Like most farmers in Ethiopia, Jundi Hajji expected that the profit from his wheat harvest would be sufficient to feed his family of eight until next year’s harvest. But, following a yellow wheat rust epidemic across the country and on his farm, he is concerned how his family will survive if the … Continue reading
Agriculture / Climate Change / East Africa / Farming Systems / ILRI / Kenya / Livestock / Research
Preying on small uneducated farmers
A new study by the International Livestock Research Institute has found that reductions in greenhouse gases could be worth $1 billion dollars to poor livestock farmers if they could sell saved carbon on international markets. Greenhouse gas emissions caused by livestock operations in tropical countries — a major contributor to climate change — could be … Continue reading
Agriculture is about people
On the fara-net comes this interesting post from Francois Lategan: ‘I always find it quite interesting to read about the way we speak about the (lack of) progress (?) in the way Africa performs its agriculture and the possible reasons why things do not change (quick) enough for our liking. We tend to forget that … Continue reading
Africa / Agriculture / Asia / CCAFS / Climate Change / Dairying / Environment / Food Security / ILRI / Latin America / Livestock
Tropical farming the climate-friendly way
Changing tropical farming methods could cut emissions of methane and carbon dioxide by up to 417 Mt of carbon dioxide-equivalent by 2030, around 12% of livestock-related worldwide emissions of the greenhouse gases. That’s according to a team from Copenhagen and Kenya, who believe that the most likely levels of emissions cuts could be worth $1.3 … Continue reading
Agriculture / Animal Breeding / Animal Feeding / Climate Change / East Africa / ILRI / Namibia / Southern Africa
Climate change will have a great impact on Southern African livestock
Cattle herd walks home along dry riverbed in Tete Province, Mozambique (photo: ILRI/Mann) ‘A researcher at the International Livestock Research Institute says climate change will have a great impact on Southern African livestock and coastal systems in future. ‘Mario Herrero says by 2050, [some] of Africa will have to revert to livestock farming from crop … Continue reading
Africa / Agriculture / Brazil / Cattle / Environment / Food Security / Latin America / Livestock / North America / NRM / Research / Soils / Water / WLE
The miracle of the cerrado
Brazil has revolutionized its own farms. Can it do the same for others? IN A remote corner of Bahia state, in north-eastern Brazil, a vast new farm is springing out of the dry bush. Thirty years ago eucalyptus and pine were planted in this part of the cerrado (Brazil’s savannah). Native shrubs later reclaimed some … Continue reading
Feeding the world without levelling the forest
Romosinuano cattle grazing in South America (picture credit: ILRI/Edwin Perez) A July 2010 article in the leading science journal Nature highlights the gains Brazil is making in its agricultural productivity. ‘With its plentiful sun, water and land, Brazil is quickly surpassing other countries in food production and exports. But can it continue to make agricultural … Continue reading
Agriculture / CGIAR / Impact Assessment / Markets / NRM / PIM / Policy / Research / WLE
And the winner is . . . New review of the impacts of international agricultural research
An interesting paper has appeared this week, published in the science journal Food Policy. It reviews evidence of the impacts of research conducted since 2000 by 15 centres belonging to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), one of which is the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), based in Africa. Below is a glossary … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 