Crop residues in smallholder systems: Pressures and trade-offs

Posted on 6 Nov 2011 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Alan Duncan, Bruno Gérard, Diego Valbuena, Michael Blümmel, and Shirley Tarawali prepared an issue brief on the contributions of crop residues to mixed crop and livestock systems in developing countries … Contrary to the popular view that cereal crop residues are just a low quality by-product … Continue reading →

Animal Production / CCAFS / Environment / Ethiopia / ILRI / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Pastoralism / Report / Research / Vulnerability

Rangeland-based livestock production systems in the arid and semi-arid tropics

Posted on 5 Nov 2011 by ILRI Communications • 1 Comment

For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Augustine Ayantunde, Shirley Tarawali and Iain Wright prepared an issue brief on livestock challenges and opportunities in rangelands … Perceptions about arid and semi-arid pastoral regions are rapidly changing. They are no longer seen as livestock enterprises but as multiple use systems with important consequences for … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Australia / BecA / Climate Change / Directorate / Food Security / ILRI / Interview / Kenya / Research

Australian champions for international agricultural research speak out on new Australian initiative to reach out to Africa

Posted on 5 Nov 2011 by Susan MacMillan • 2 Comments

ILRI’s Gabrielle Persley being interviewed by Australian journalist Kate Sieper at ILRI’s ‘John Vercoe Conference on Animal Breeding for Poverty Reduction’, held in Nairobi in 2007 (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan). The Australian Federal Government is funding a new multi-million-dollar Australian International Centre for Food Security, aimed at helping millions of Africans lift themselves out of … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Event / Film and video / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Insuring the never before insured: Kenyan herders get first drought payouts

Posted on 5 Nov 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Sake Dabasso Halake stands proudly in front of Equity Bank‘s Marsabit branch, clutching an envelope of 16,000 Kenya shillings (USD165) that she received as a payout on an insurance policy she earlier took out for her cows; she lost ten cows in a drought just ending that has hurt the livelihoods of thousands of livestock herders … Continue reading →

Disease Control / ECF / Film and video / Genetics / ILRI / Kenya / Research / Zoonotic Diseases

Driven by technology, (finally) embracing diversity: A geneticist’s views on the evolution of biotech research at ILRI

Posted on 4 Nov 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Steve Kemp, a livestock molecular geneticist, reflects on the evolution of ILRI’s research agenda and the role of biotechnology research in that agenda . . . Steve Kemp first came to the Nairobi campus of the International Livestock research Institute (ILRI) in 1985 when it was … Continue reading →

Animal Production / CCAFS / Climate Change / Environment / Ethiopia / ILRI / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Report / Research

Livestock and climate change

Posted on 3 Nov 2011 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Philip Thornton, Mario Herrero and Polly Ericksen prepared an issue brief on the relations between climate change and livestock systems in developing countries … Livestock systems occupy 45% of the global surface area with a value of at least $1.4 trillion. Livestock industries and value chains … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Food Security / Nutrition / Somalia

Barely breathing: The famine crisis in Somalia deepens

Posted on 3 Nov 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Photo on Flickr by IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation Turkey. Jeffrey Gettleman, the East Africa correspondent for the New York Times, reports that Somalia’s spreading famine and agony is testing the limits of aid. At Benadir Hospital, in Mogadishu, Gettleman watches children die. In Benadir, there is a room full of old blue cots, one after another, … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Feeding / Ethiopia / ILRI / Innovation Systems / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Project / Report / Research

Ten lessons on multi-stakeholder networks and innovation platforms

Posted on 1 Nov 2011 by ILRI Communications • 2 Comments

For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Keith Sones and Alan Duncan prepared an issue brief with lessons on ways to establish and facilitate multi-stakeholder networks on smallholder agriculture in developing countries. … Between 2007 and 2010, the Fodder Adoption Project (FAP) – funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and … Continue reading →

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

Kenyan pastoralists benefit from unique livestock insurance

Posted on 1 Nov 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Children in Kenya’s Marsabit District pass one of thousands of carcasses of livestock that died in the drought in the Horn of Africa (photo on Flickr by Neil Palmer/CIAT). Voice of America reports today on ‘A new insurance program for poor livestock farmers in northern Kenya has made its first pay out to some 650 herders … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / ASF / Australia / BecA / Biotechnology / Capacity Strengthening / Directorate / Food Security / ILRI / Nutrition

Australia to set up Africa-focused International Centre for Food Security

Posted on 31 Oct 2011 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

Gabrielle Persely at a March 2011 farewell seminar she gave at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), titled ‘Africa, science and agriculture: A 25-year perspective’ (photo credit: ILRI/Mungai). Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard today announced a new initiative to share Australia’s world leading expertise in food production with the people of Africa. The Government will set … Continue reading →