New analyses highlight the extent of livestock production in Africa’s drylands

Posted on 6 Sep 2014 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

Typical long-horned goats of Abergelle Amhara, Ethiopia (photo credit: ILRI/Zerihun Sewunet). ‘Quantitative information on the importance of livestock systems in African drylands is scarce. A new study by Tim Robinson, of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and Giulia Conchedda, of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), helps to redress this. The study … Continue reading →

African drylands: Livestock demand and supply

Posted on 3 Sep 2014 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

ILRI’s Tim Robinson maps the changing demand for livestock products and associated changes in production that will be required to meet future demand in African drylands. Continue reading →

Burkina Faso / Climate Change / Directorate / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Eritrea / Ethiopia / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Mali / Niger / Nigeria / Pastoralism / Policy / Senegal / Somalia / Sudan / Uganda / Vulnerability / West Africa

Hunger in Sahel worsens as ‘lean season’ begins: ‘The worst is yet to come’

Posted on 14 Jun 2012 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

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 →

Drought / East Africa / Eritrea / Ethiopia / Food Security / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Where people are starving, and where they are not, reflects more on African leaders than on the climate–Mark Malloch-Brown

Posted on 27 Aug 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

The landscape of Tigray, Ethiopia, which was the centre of famine in that country 25 years ago but is now managing to remain food secure due to years of agricultural and other investments (photo on Flickr by hhesterr). Mark Malloch-Brown is in good, and candid, form in an opinion piece in Reuters published yesterday. ‘. … 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 →

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 →

Drought / East Africa / Eritrea / Ethiopia / Geodata / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability

Emergency hunger update for Horn of Africa as of 29 July 2011

Posted on 1 Aug 2011 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

Updated information as of 29 July 2011 by the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on the drought in the Horn of Africa (illustration credit: FEWS NET and OCHA). Food insecurity remains at emergency levels across parts of the Horn of Africa, famine … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Eritrea / Ethiopia / Food Security / Nutrition / Pastoralism / Somalia / USA / Vulnerability

Washington Post coverage of Africa’s drought/hunger crisis–From advice on livestock herding to presidential offers of partnership

Posted on 31 Jul 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Return to traditional agricultural approaches—William G Mosley A recent op-ed in the Washington Post, on the topic of the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa, argues that ‘while reactions of grave concern over this unfolding tragedy are natural, its causes are not. . . . The semi-arid Horn of Africa and the entire Sahelian … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Diseases / Asia / Disease Control / Eritrea / India / Indonesia / Philippines / Vaccines

Perry: Let’s celebrate the eradication of rinderpest this year, but let’s not get carried away by the ‘E’ word

Posted on 3 Jun 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Brian Perry, a former scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and a continuing collaborator with ILRI, now a visiting Professor at the University of Oxford, writes a column, ‘Our Man in Africa’, for the Dick Vet News, of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Perry’s column in the … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / East Africa / Egypt / Eritrea / Kenya / Livestock / North Africa / Research

Improved pastures revive Kenya’s livestock exports

Posted on 3 Dec 2009 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

Exporters of live animals to Mauritius are preparing to resume the business following the recent rainfall that has improved pasture in Coast province. The growing demand for live Kenyan animals in Mauritius was interrupted by the recent drought that affected many parts in the country, leading traders to suspend exports since they could not get … Continue reading →

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