Livestock research addresses issues underlying the pastoral crisis in the Horn of Africa

Posted on 16 Oct 2009 by ILRI Communications • 14 Comments

Things Fall Apart Things have quickly fallen apart in this particular drought in the Horn’s vast drylands because of a toxic mix of underlying factors. Land Use Among the things not being redressed are land-use policies and practices that fail to account for population increases and thus are restricting herders to ever smaller, drier and … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Food Security / Kenya

A profile of what could become the country’s irreversible tragedy

Posted on 8 Oct 2009 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

A profile of what could become the country’s irreversible tragedy Kenya’s worst drought in living memory has been overshadowed by political and economic crises and the destruction of the Mau Forest. Now, with 10 million people short of food, the drought has captured national attention. Read more (Daily Nation) Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Environment / Kenya

A catastrophe is looming

Posted on 7 Oct 2009 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

The drought cycle in east Africa has been contracting sharply. Rains used to fail every nine or ten years. Then the cycle seemed to go down to five years. Now, it seems, the region faces drought every two or three years. The production of Kenyan maize, the country’s staple, is likely to drop by one-third, … Continue reading →

East Africa / Kenya / Livestock Systems / Pastoralism / Research

‘60 Minutes’ features ILRI research in the Masai Mara

Posted on 5 Oct 2009 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

The work of ecologist Robin Reid, who spent 15 years conducting pastoral research at the Nairobi headquarters of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is featured in a current segment of the American television program ‘60 Minutes’, which aired last Sunday, 3 October 2009. View the segment on the 60 Minutes website here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/07/08/60minutes/main13502.shtml Read … Continue reading →

Climate Change / East Africa / Kenya / Tanzania / Uganda

Climate change to bring mixed fortunes for East African pastoralists

Posted on 5 Oct 2009 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

The anticipated climatic changes will present mixed fortunes for pastoralist communities in Uganda and her neighbours. This is according to an Oxfam briefing paper Survival of the Fittest which says that pastoralist communities across East Africa are starting to learn to live with the reality of climate change, adapting as they can to its impacts. … Continue reading →

Drought / Kenya / Livelihoods

Drought wipes out Kenyan pastoralists’ livelihood

Posted on 25 Sep 2009 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

Garrisa town is the headquarters of North Eastern Province, Kenya, the heart beat of Kenya’s pastoralists’ community who are crying lot following the worst country’s’ drought in decades. Livestock among the pastoralists accounts for more than 70 per cent of household income that means they source more than half their food from the market since … Continue reading →

Africa / Drought / Kenya

The last nomads: Drought drives Kenya’s herders to the brink

Posted on 25 Sep 2009 by ILRI Communications • 2 Comments

In the isolated border lands between Kenya and Somalia, families have always clung to a precarious existence. Now a decade of droughts has tested their endurance Hawa Hassan comes leading three donkeys, accompanied by two female relatives and a handful of the family’s smallest children. They have walked out of the drought-withered acacia scrub, travelling … Continue reading →

East Africa / Kenya

Kenya missing as Obama listens to Africa’s needs

Posted on 24 Sep 2009 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

Several African leaders briefed President Barack Obama about their countries’ needs at a luncheon on Tuesday from which Kenya was excluded. Prime Minister Raila Odinga was initially invited to attend the event at New York’s posh Waldorf Astoria Hotel, but was subsequently disinvited by the US State Department. The heads of State of two of … Continue reading →

Animal Diseases / Cattle / Kenya / Livestock Systems

Herders hard hit as skies refuse to open up

Posted on 24 Sep 2009 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

When Mzee Tompo ole Ngolia drove his emaciated animals to Mt Kenya forest in June, he hoped the desperate move would save them. But for three months, he has watched in anguish as one animal after another succumbs to diseases associated with the harsh climate in the region. When he arrived at Gathiuru forest with … Continue reading →

Africa / East Africa / Ethiopia / Innovation Systems / Kenya / Knowledge and Information / Pastoralism

Pastoral innovation systems: Perspectives from Ethiopia and Kenya

Posted on 21 Sep 2009 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

Ian Scoones and Andrew Adwera of the Future Agricultures Consortium report from a March 2009 meeting of over 50 pastoralists from across southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya. Gathered in the Borana lowlands at the ‘University of the Bush,’ they debated key pastoral development issues and the question of innovation in pastoral systems. Meeting in several languages, participants … Continue reading →