Innovative livestock insurance scheme for remote Kenyan herders was dreamed up at Cornell

Posted on 28 Oct 2011 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

Jimmy Smith, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), speaks at an event in Marsabit town, in northern Kenya, where several hundred livestock herders were given payouts for livestock insurance that they took out earlier (photo on Flickr by Neil Palmer/CIAT). ‘In the midst of a drought-induced food crisis affecting millions in the … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Event / Food Security / Geodata / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Satellite images trigger insurance payouts to poor livestock herders in Kenya’s northern dryland frontier

Posted on 28 Oct 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Andrew Mude (right), a scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, explains the livestock insurance payouts made last week to resource-poor livestock herders in Kenya’s Marsabit District in the wake of a great drought in the Horn of Africa that dried up the available forage on Marsabit’s rangelands and caused the … Continue reading →

Animal Breeding / East Africa / Event / Film and video / Genetics / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / Kenya / Sheep / Small Ruminants / Staff

Livestock genetic resources of and for the poor: Where ILRI research stands

Posted on 28 Oct 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Okeyo Mwai, livestock geneticist, reflects on ILRI’s research over the past decade on the animal genetic resources of the developing world and future directions. Watch the 2-minute interview with Okeyo Mwai. What we achieved in the last decade With the Food and Agriculture Organization of the … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Directorate / Film and video / Kenya / Livestock / Livestock Systems / PIM / Policy / Research

Betting on modern sciences and technologies – and a more balanced approach to livestock research for development

Posted on 27 Oct 2011 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, John McDermott, the outgoing deputy director general and director of research, reflects on the evolution of ILRI’s research over the past eight years and the future of livestock research for development. ‘Some of what I’m most pleased about us doing in the past few years is … Continue reading →

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

News agency interviews herders who received drought insurance payouts in Kenya’s Marsabit District

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

Insurance payouts for Kenyan drought victims, posted 26 Oct 2011 by Agence France Press TV: Runtime 2:06. Agence France Presse TV has posted on YouTube an interesting 2-minute video piece on the first-ever insurance payments made to pastoral herders in northern Kenya’s remote Marsabit Dictrict, following a great drought in the Horn of Africa that … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Event / Food Security / Geodata / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Unusual project cushions drought impacts on poor livestock herders in drought-ravaged Horn

Posted on 26 Oct 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Some people in Kenya’s Marsabit District who in recent months lost up to a third of their cattle and other livestock to a great drought in the Horn of Africa received insurance payments last week; this man awaits his payout following a village meeting in Dirib Gombo, where it began to rain just two weeks … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Production / Burkina Faso / Crop-Livestock / Ghana / ILRI / Intensification / Livelihoods / Livestock / Livestock Systems / NRM / Opinion piece / Research / Water / West Africa / WLE

The triple challenge facing livestock research for development in Africa

Posted on 25 Oct 2011 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Tim Williams – Africa Director at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) reflects on ILRI’s livestock work in West Africa … Two key questions Back in 2000, two key questions occupied the minds of those of us who worked on the development of the ILRI’s Strategy–Livestock: … Continue reading →

Climate Change / Drought / East Africa / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Photo / Vulnerability

New satellite-based insurance scheme makes first payments to drought-hit pastoralists in the Horn

Posted on 25 Oct 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

The carcass of a donkey in northern Kenya; like many other animals in recent weeks, this animal lay down to die just as seasonal rains arrived in the region following a prolonged drought. Photographer Neil Palmer explains: ‘Already weakened by months of near-starvation, the animals were unable to endure the colder weather that followed the … Continue reading →

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

Maasai livestock herders in Kenya paid to conserve the wildlife that share their rangelands

Posted on 24 Oct 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Nairobi cityscape in the background of Nairobi National Park (photo on Flickr by Luigi Guarino). ‘As pastoralists in the North Rift grapple with the drought that has affected more than 12 million East Africans, a new model to pay the residents for conserving the ecosystem in reserves and parks is helping them to diversify income … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

First-ever livestock insurance payouts made in Marsabit