Changing the face of agriculture in Africa–one (emerging woman) leader at a time

Posted on 4 Mar 2012 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

CGIAR AWARD Fellow Sheila Ommeh, working at ILRI-BecA, gives a presentation on the importance of conserving and better using Africa’s native chicken breeds for World Bank vice president Rachel Kyte on 2 Feb 2012 at the World Agroforestry Centre (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan). The Huffington Post this week carries a blog by Sir Gordon Conway, professor of … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Of cell phones, satellites and livestock insurance in Kenya’s Chalbi Desert

Posted on 29 Feb 2012 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

ILRI’s Brenda Wandera and Andrew Mude at the launch of the Kenya Government’s ‘Open Data Web Portal’ on 8 Jul 2011 (photo credit: ILRI/Muthoni Njiru). Brenda Wandera, who helps manage an Index-Based Livestock Insurance Project conducted by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and her boss, Andrew Mude, are the focus of an in-depth magazine … Continue reading →

Animal Diseases / ASF / BecA / Burundi / Disease Control / East Africa / ILRI / Kenya / Project / Rwanda / Tanzania / Uganda / Vaccines

Devastating African disease of pigs gets new attention and funding

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

African Swine Fever Workshop, July 2011, Nairobi; from left: Raymond Rowland (Kansas State University), David Odongo (ILRI), Richard Bishop (ILRI), Maria-Jesus Munoz (CISA-INIA) and Jose-Manuel Vizcaino (Head of OIE ASF World Reference Centre Madrid) on a visit to the new BecA-ILRI laboratories (photo credit: ILRI/Edward Okoth). New Agriculturist reported late last year on renewed research … Continue reading →

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

Climatic conditions linked to Horn’s 2011 drought persist–could spell another food crisis

Posted on 13 Feb 2012 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

Somali dust storm (image on Flickr by Frank Keillor). ‘The climatic conditions linked to the drought in the Horn in 2011 have persisted, and some early warning officials say the aid community should brace themselves for a possible re-run of last year’s food crisis. . . . ‘According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network … Continue reading →

Animal Diseases / Biotechnology / Diagnostics / Disease Control / Drylands / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Environment / Epidemiology / Event / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / Research / RVF / Southern Africa / USA / Zoonotic Diseases

Could Rift Valley fever be a weapon of mass destruction? An insidious insect-animal-people infection loop explored

Posted on 12 Feb 2012 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

The Fifth Plague: Livestock Disease, woodcut by Gustave Doré, 1866 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons). Anthrax, bird flu , Ebola, HIV-AIDS, H1N1, H5N1, influenza, Rift Valley fever, SARS: What are the disease links between people, animals and environments? And what are we doing to protect ourselves against the next outbreak of a deadly infectious disease? … Continue reading →

Directorate / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Opinion piece / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability

Belgian veterinary group message to Bill Gates: Herding livestock makes more sense than growing crops in arid lands

Posted on 6 Feb 2012 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

A herd of livestock cross the drylands near Marsabit town, in northern Kenya; some farmers in the region took out livestock insurance, and this year are receiving the first payouts after a prolonged drought (image on Flickr by Neil Palmer/CIAT). Below is part of an open letter / press release brought out by Vétérinaires Sans … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Animal Production / Animal Products / Botswana / Cattle / Dairying / East Africa / Innovation Systems / Kenya / Livestock / Report / Southern Africa / Uganda / Value Chains

Multi-stakeholder innovation in Africa: Dairy and beef cases feature in new report from FARA

Posted on 6 Feb 2012 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

The Forum on Agricultural Research in Africa just published a new report on agricultural innovation in sub-Saharan Africa: experiences from multiple-stakeholder approaches. The report draws together case experiences across Africa with an ‘integrated agriculture research for development (IAR4D) approach’ that brings together multiple actors along a commodity value chain to address challenges and identify opportunities … Continue reading →

Biodiversity / Books and chapters / Drylands / East Africa / Environment / Geodata / ILRI / Kenya / Knowledge and Information / NRM / Policy / Water / Wildlife

ILRI scientists map Kenyan watershed services to benefit people, crops, livestock and wildlife

Posted on 19 Jan 2012 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

A map of land use in the Ewaso Ng’iro watershed, taken from Mapping and Valuing Ecosystem Services in the Ewaso Ng’iro Watershed, published in 2011 by ILRI. From Ecosystem Marketplace comes this review of a new publication from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). ‘. . . As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of floods … Continue reading →

Books and chapters / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Challenging dryland myths, seizing dryland opportunities

Posted on 17 Jan 2012 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

A human settlement in northern Kenya, from the air (photo on Flickr by Neil Palmer [CIAT]). A fact-filled, thought-provoking and myth-busting book, which many researchers will have reason to hope will become widely influential, challenges the African ‘drylands myths’ that, despite decades of research that should have overturned them by now, remain entrenched in many … Continue reading →

Directorate / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Opinion piece / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Are politicians making political hay – and pastoral havoc – out of diminishing dryland resources in northern Kenya?