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)
The 12 February 2010 issue of Science examines the obstacles to achieving global food security and some promising solutions. News articles introduce farmers and researchers who are finding ways to boost harvests, especially in the developing world. Reviews, Perspectives, and an audio interview provide a broader context for the causes and effects of food insecurity … Continue reading
A new paper published today in Science warns that billions of dollars promised to fund programs to boost small-scale agriculture in developing countries are unlikely to succeed in feeding the world’s increasing populations. This is due not only to increasing populations and changing environments, but also to little “intellectual commitment” to the ubiquitous small-scale “mixed” … Continue reading
The Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department of FAO, in collaboration with Embrapa, IFAD and IICA, will co-organize an international consultation on the theme: Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems for Development: The Way Forward for Production Intensification. The consultation process will operate largely through an electronic exchange by experts during February 2010 followed by a smaller workshop in Sete Lagoas, Minas Geráis, Brazil, from … Continue reading
In recent times, in eastern Africa, arable land has become more scarce and livestock production has gained more ground, making maize more important than ever—both as a source of food and feed—in highly intensified crop-livestock farming systems. In an innovative partnership, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) … Continue reading
Lured by a new business model, wealthy nations flock to farmland in Ethiopia, locking in food supplies grown half a world away BAKO, ETHIOPIA — In recent months, the Ethiopian government began marketing abroad one of the hottest commodities in an increasingly crowded and hungry world: farmland. “Why Attractive?” reads one glossy poster with photos … Continue reading
Danielle Nierenberg from the Worldwatch Institute recently visited Ethiopia as part of a project evaluating environmentally sustainable ways of alleviating hunger and poverty, and tellong stories of hope and success in food production from all over Africa. Her Ethiopia visit began at ILRI. She blogs … Farmers confront more challenges than ever before: climate change, … Continue reading
Maize and beans, East Africa’s most traded and consumed commodities, are being threatened by climate changes. A new study published in the peer-review journal on Agricultural Systems, projects that climate change will have highly variable impacts on East Africa’s vital maize and bean harvests over the next two to four decades. This is presenting growers … Continue reading
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
ILRI Clippings 