With the right investments, Africa’s small farms could make profits as well as food

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

Mohamed Béavogui, director of the west and central African division of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), has the following to say in the Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog. ‘Africa’s smallholder farmers not only have the potential to produce enough food for export—and thereby contribute to food security worldwide—but to help lead the way to … Continue reading →

CCAFS / CGIAR / Climate Change / Crop-Livestock / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / Kenya / Somalia / Vulnerability

New initiative to support agro-pastoralists in Africa’s Horn

Posted on 3 May 2011 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

Coastweek and Xinhua have published accounts of a new East African dryland food production initiative. The initiative will work towards securing the agro-pastoral livelihoods of poor livestock keepers in the region. ‘Scientists have launched a new initiative to help boost smallholder farmers’ resilience to drought in the Horn of Africa’s drylands. ‘The new initiative supported by … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / Crop-Livestock / Food Security / Latin America / Malawi

No solution to food crisis without involvement of the world’s small-scale farmers

Posted on 18 Apr 2011 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

Regina Frazer: Maize, potato, cassava, chicken, dove, pig and vegetable farmer in central Malawi (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). A Guardian blog post today argues that the world’s many small farmers are critical to solving the world’s food, and food price, crises. The blog says, ‘We should celebrate one of the largest but least recognised groups in … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Animal Production / Crop-Livestock / Dairying / East Africa / Livestock Systems

Sustainable intensification: increasing productivity in African food and agricultural systems

Posted on 5 Apr 2011 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

The February 2011 issue of the journal International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability contains a series of case studies from Africa on ‘sustainable agricultural intensification’ -“defined as producing more output from the same area of land while reducing the negative environmental impacts and at the same time increasing contributions to natural capital and the flow of environmental … Continue reading →

Animal Feeding / Animal Production / Crop-Livestock / Ethiopia / Livestock / Livestock Systems

Farmer perceptions of livestock, agriculture, and natural resources in the Ethiopian highlands

Posted on 8 Feb 2011 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

Increasing human and livestock populations in Ethiopia are leading to a growing demand for food and feed. Cereal cropping is highly prioritized at the cost of the livestock subsector and the environment. Grazing land is decreasing, leading to overstocking and overgrazing of pastures, thus fueling conflicts over scarce resources and exacerbating further land degradation. The … Continue reading →

Africa / Climate Change / Crop-Livestock / Livestock

Climate change effects vary widely between rich and poor countries

Posted on 27 Dec 2010 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

When Ulamila Kurai Wragg visited New York in 2009 to speak about the frightening climatic changes taking place in the Cook Islands, some audience members stunned her. “I was hearing, ‘There’s no such thing as climate change. What proof have you got?’ ” Wragg recalled. “The experience I had in New York was not easy … Continue reading →

Animal Production / Crop-Livestock / ILRI / Livestock Systems / Livestock-Water

International Symposium on Sustainable Animal Production in the Tropics–ILRI papers

Posted on 9 Dec 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

The November 2010 issue of Advances in Animal Biosciences contains papers from the ‘International Symposium on Sustainable Animal Production in the Tropics: Farming in a Changing World,’ held in Guadeloupe 15-18 November 2010. Five papers are included from ILRI authors: Mario Herrero and Philip K. Thornton: Mixed crop livestock systems in the developing world: present … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Animal Production / Climate Change / Crop-Livestock / Environment / ILRI / Livestock Systems / Poultry

Turkeys and spinach: Green foodies beware–the foods in our food systems are not always what they seem

Posted on 30 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Seen at the Barrington Living History Farm (USA), this is most likely a Black-Spanish turkey, which was a common breed in the 19th century (photo credit: Big Grey Mare’s Photostream on Flickr / Carol Von Canon). Agricultural systems analyst Philip Thornton, of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), was interviewed last week by the American … Continue reading →

Africa / Climate Change / Crop-Livestock / Directorate / Food Security / ILRI

Could rising temperatures overwhelm Africa’s adaptive capacity and resilience?

Posted on 29 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

‘A new study warns of the potential problems Africa faces from rising temperatures. ‘The Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) says the continent must learn to adapt to shorter growing seasons. The report was released as the U.N. Climate Change Conference is held in Cancun, Mexico. ‘Most warnings about climate change are based on a … Continue reading →

Africa / Climate Change / Crop-Livestock / Directorate / Food Security / ILRI / Livelihoods

Climate change may force many southern African crop-and-livestock farmers to migrate–ILRI director general Carlos Sere