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’

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

Camels / Cattle / Climate Change / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Ethiopia / Goats / ILRI / Kenya / Markets / Pastoralism / Project / Sheep / Somalia / Trade / Vulnerability

Foolhardy? Or just hardy? New project tackles climate change and livestock markets in the Horn

If only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the tropical midday sun, what shall we say of Americans in Alabama and Kenya setting out to learn from, and support, sales of livestock in the hot and drying badlands extending across the Horn of Africa? This is what Peter Little, of Emory University, and Polly … Continue reading

Dairying / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / Human Health / Nutrition / Pastoralism / Report / Vulnerability

Dry-season milk supplies to pastoral children improves their nutrition, development and health

Fresh camel milk from Somali youths (photo on Flickr by G A Hussein). The Feinstein International Center, at Tufts University (USA), has published a report of a study on the impact of dry-season livestock support on milk supply and child nutrition in Somali Region, Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s Somali Region is the easternmost of Ethiopia’s 9 ethnically … Continue reading

Agriculture / Ethiopia / Food Security / Ghana / Nutrition / Presentation / Tanzania

President Obama: Sustaining commitments, speeding things up, for African food security

Last week at the 2012 G8 Summit in the USA, Oxfam International asked world leaders to join smallholder farmers and developing countries to fight hunger by delivering on their previous pledges and recommitting for the future by joining its Grow Campaign (image credit: Oxfam International). Last week, on 18 May and the eve of the 2012 … Continue reading

Agriculture / Dairying / East Africa / Ethiopia / Extension / ILRI / Interview / IPMS / Markets

Market-oriented agricultural extension important for Ethiopia – ILRI tells BBC

The Ethiopian economy is currently witnessing strong growth; however agricultural productivity in the smallholder sector, in dairying for example, is not as high as it could be. The BBC reports on developments in the country, including from a dairy development project of the Dutch development organization SNV. As part of the report, Berhanu Gebremedhin of … Continue reading

Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / South Sudan / Sudan / Vulnerability / West Africa

FEWS NET says rainfall in Africa’s eastern Horn may be below normal again this year

FEWS Net Estimated Food Security Conditions for Mar 2012 (map credit: USAID and Famine Early Warning System Network). Bloomberg News has reported a new report from the Famine Early Warning Systems network (FEWS NET) that East African rainfall ‘may be “significantly” below average in the Horn of Africa’s main growing season, potentially threatening a region … Continue reading

Agriculture / Animal Production / Animal Products / Cattle / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / IPMS / Livestock / Markets / Project / Research

IPMS project updates shared with steering committee

The Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) project held its semi annual steering committee meeting on April 17, 2012 in Addis Ababa. Representatives from the Oromia, SNNP and Tigray bureau’s of agriculture/research; IPMS rural development officers; CIDA representatives; and IPMS headquarters staff attended. Iain Wright chaired the meeting. The main agenda of the day was … Continue reading

Animal Production / Animal Products / Cattle / East Africa / Ethiopia / Film and video / IPMS / Livestock / Markets / Value Chains

An innovation story: Livestock fattening in Metema, Ethiopia

This innovation story narrates the experience of the Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) project on livestock fattening in Ethiopia. The video documents how a 2005 alliance between the local government office of agriculture, the IPMS project, and local livestock farmers and traders in western Ethiopia took advantage of livestock market opportunities in neighbouring Sudan. … Continue reading

Agriculture / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event report / IPMS

Results-based M&E training for Ethiopia’s regional agricultural officers

Towards the end of its five-year term, the Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) project recently ran a training of trainers workshop on results-based monitoring and evaluation (M&E). In this video, Berhanu Gebremedhin outlines the main topics covered in the workshop: An introduction to results-based M&E; the development of a logic model and performance framework … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Amharic / Capacity Strengthening / East Africa / Ethiopia / Extension / Film and video / Gender / ILRI / IPMS / Women

ጉብኝት ለመልካም ተሞክሮ ከ ሴቶች ጋር [Amharic]

This blog post is in Amharic, if you are seeing boxes download fonts here. ይህ ዶኪመንቴሽን በግብርናው ዘርፍ የሴቶች መብትና ተሳትፎ እንዲሁም ተጠቃሚነት ተግባራዊ ለማድርግ የ IPMS (በኢትዮጵያ ምርታማነትና የገበያ ስኬት ማሻሻያ) ፕሮጄክትን እንቅስቃሴዎች አካቶ ይዟል። IPMS ሴቶችን ከወንዶች እኩል የፕሮጀክቱ ድገፍ ተጠቃሚ በማድረግ የስርዐተ ፆታ እኩልነትን ለማስፈን የበኩሉን አስተዋፆ አድርጓል። ይህ ዶኪመንቴሽን በአደኣ ወረዳ … Continue reading