Under Sustainable intensification in smallholder crop/livestock systems, we work to improve system efficiency through better feed quality, health and animal performance – in a context of increasing competition for land and other resources (eg biofuels)
A five-year project that promoted nitrogen fixation through the use of rhizobia bacteria in grain legumes in Ethiopia helped smallholder farmers increase their legume production by 20% and could help the country save over USD28 million annually in fertilizer costs. Continue reading
Once again, the debate on sustainable diets and in particular on (not) eating animal-derived products is resurfacing in the media, as illustrated most recently by an article in The Guardian. The paper reported on a study by J. Poore and T. Nemecek entitled ‘Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers’, published in the latest edition of Science magazine. Continue reading
A new report from Africa RISING—Footprints of Africa RISING Phase I (2011–2016)—summarizes the achievements of the project’s first phase. Continue reading
CLEANED provides a rapid assessment that quantifies potential environmental impacts of planned livestock development interventions at multiple spatial scales. With a particular focus on developing countries, it requires participatory discussions with local communities to make sure that assessments are relevant to local agro-ecological landscapes and production systems. Continue reading
Findings from a review of a five-year irrigation project in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Tanzania show that all the men and women farmers who had adopted irrigation practices ‘were financially better off, more food secure and had more diverse diets’. Continue reading
The following argument for continuing to use livestock to use the planet’s full ecological potential is made by Louise Fresco, a Dutch writer and food and agricultural scientist specializing in sustainable tropical agriculture. President of the executive board of Wageningen University and Research, Fresco is a member of the World Food Prize Council of Advisors and holds many other distinguished appointments and honours. Continue reading
The CGIAR Research Program on Integrated Systems for the Humid Tropics (Humidtropics) was an agricultural research for development program that aimed for sustainable intensification of agricultural systems to improve the livelihoods of farm households. The Central Mekong Action Area was primarily focused on the complex of rice and non-rice farming systems (plus areas with other land uses) in the non-flood-prone lowlands, uplands and highlands. The Action Area covered six countries (Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam). Continue reading
A new extension brief by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) explains the principles of haymaking using tropical grasses and legumes. Continue reading
On 6 October 2016 the Ambassador of the United States to Burkina Faso, H E Tulinabo S Mushingi, visited Ziga in Yatenga Province, one of the implementation sites of the Feed the Future Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab (SIIL) project in the country. Continue reading
Steve Staal, who for the past 15 months has served the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Los Baños, the Philippines, as regional representative for East and South Asia, this month takes up leadership of ILRI’s Policy, Trade and Value Chains program and is now based in Nairobi. Continue reading
