Category Archives: CRPs

CGIAR Research Programs

Africa / Asia / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / Food Security / ILRI / Impact Assessment / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Drought responses–New briefing paper on lessons still to learn

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‘Maasai herding’, painting by Kahare Miano (photo credit: ILRI/Dave Elsworth). A new 19-page briefing paper provides a synthesis of key lessons learnt from evaluations of relief and recovery responses to past slow-onset disasters—particularly drought, and food and livelihoods insecurity. The paper is intended for people working in relief and recovery operations for slow-onset disasters—those who … Continue reading →

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

Remote Kenya livestock herders receive their first drought insurance payouts

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ILRI staff help local livestock herders in Kenya’s Marsabit District understand how they might benefit from a new ‘index-based’ livestock insurance policy scheme, which is providing 650 herders who paid for this insurance with their first payout this month, following the loss of forage due to a drought that hit Marsabit as well as much … Continue reading →

Africa / Burkina Faso / Crop-Livestock / Ghana / ILRI / Livestock / Livestock-Water / NRM / Opinion piece / Research / West Africa / WLE

Water scarcity limits crop-livestock production in the Volta Basin

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For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Sabine Douxchamps reflects on her livestock-water work in West Africa … Rainwater management strategies (RMS) have been extensively studied and promoted in the Volta Basin during the last decades. However, water scarcity still limits the agricultural production of most of the smallholder crop-livestock farms of the … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Article / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / Environment / Farming Systems / Food Security / Geodata / ILRI / NRM / Research / WLE

A BIG conversation starts on ways to increase food supplies while protecting environments and eradicating hunger

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An animated 3-minute video clip by the University of Minnesota’s Institute for the Environment. Justin Gillis has published an interesting piece this week in the Green Blog of the New York Times on a big study just published in Nature by Jon Foley, director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota. … Continue reading →

ILRI / Innovation Systems / Livestock / NRM / Value Chains / WLE

Innovation platforms as spaces for change and transformation in rural communities

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This week’s Rome AgriKnowledge ‘share fair’ included a session on ‘innovation platforms’ as vehicles for rural change. It highlighted some experiences of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the International Crops Research Institute for the Tropics (ICRISAT), and the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF). The innovation platforms discussed in the session grew … Continue reading →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Directorate / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Food Safety / Food Security / Human Health / ILRI / Nutrition / Research / Staff / Zoonotic Diseases

Livestock veterinary research director to head new global research program on agriculture for improved nutrition and health

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John McDermott, currently deputy director general-research of the International livestock Research Institute has been appointed head of CGIAR Research Program 4, on Agriculture for Improved Nutrition and Health (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan). Shenggen Fan, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) announced on 6 Sep 2011 that John McDermott has been named … Continue reading →

A4NH / Africa / Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / ASF / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Livestock / Research / Southern Africa / Zoonotic Diseases

Animal health and emerging diseases a focus for CIRAD in East and Southern Africa

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The Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD) is a French research center working with developing countries to tackle international agricultural and development issues. It’s recently updated site on it work in East and Southern Africa introduces CIRAD’s activities in the region. ‘Animal health and emerging diseases’ is one of the … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Environment / Food Security / Kenya / Pastoralism / Presentation / Vulnerability

New presentations on pastoral issues in the Horn of Africa

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The following three slide presentations were presented this August (2011) by scientists working at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, on topics related to sustaining pastoral production systems in the Horn of Africa. In light of the drought ravaging Kenya’s north and the drylands of other countries of Africa’s Horn, the results … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability

East Africa can–and should–help livestock herders cope better with drought

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Dasanech nomadic homes near Omorate, in southern Ethiopia (photo on Flickr by Carsten ten Brink). Cathy Majtenyi of Voice of America reported on meetings in Nairobi this week to look at options for mitigating drought-induced food shortages. They say pastoralism is the best land-use practice in the region’s drylands and are looking at ways to help … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Mobile herding remains a productive and sustainable use of drylands

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A Dinka cattle camp at sunset in Abyei, Sudan; the Sudanese Dinka people migrate north with 5,000 of their cattle from Warrap State to Abyei when floods hit their grazing area (photo on Flickr by UN/Tim McKulka). Migratory herding is one of the most productive uses of drylands, says the Kenyan newspaper the Daily Nation. The … Continue reading →