Category Archives: CRPs

CGIAR Research Programs

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

Mobile herding must remain mobile to stay viable in Kenya’s arid north, say researchers

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Rendille livestock herders in northern Kenya, near Lake Turkana (photo on Flickr by Robin Hutton). ‘Mobile herding or pastoralism remains the most economically viable production system for the drylands of Kenya and should be encouraged, according to livestock experts. Because of the current drought, there have been calls for local communities to shift to crop … Continue reading →

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

The long and short of it: Put as much effort into building resilience as into feeding the hungry–BBC’s Andrew Harding

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Goats drinking water at an Oxfam-funded borehole in Dilmanyale Village, South Wajir District, in northern Kenya; many people move to the village because of this water source, but once the animals have finished drinking they must walk over 10 km to get to pasture (photo on Flickr by Anna Ridout/ Oxfam International). Andrew Harding, the BBC’s … Continue reading →

CCAFS / Climate Change / Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / Somalia / Vulnerability

Is famine in the Horn of Africa linked to climate change or not?

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Duncan Green, director of research at Oxfam GB, in the Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog today, argues that whether or not the more frequent droughts occurring in the Horn of Africa are due to human-enhanced ‘climate change’, and whether or not this region is likely to get wetter or drier in future (neither of which we can … Continue reading →

Agriculture / CCAFS / Climate Change / Drought / East Africa / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya

Daily Nation calls on scientists to ‘come out boldly’ to help Kenya adapt to climate change

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Kenya minister of livestock development Hon Mohammed Kuti and Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi at the launch of an ‘Index-based livestock insurance’ scheme in Marsabit, in January 2010; led by ILRI scientists, this project is making livestock insurance available to Kenya’s northern pastoralists for the first time (photo credit: ILRI/Mude). An editorial in Kenya’s Daily … Continue reading →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / Article / Food Safety / Trade / Zoonotic Diseases

Standard-setting organizations for safe livestock trade need to evolve and collaborate more closely to meet new challenges

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A new paper by by GK Bruckner, of South Africa, Ensuring safe international trade: how are the roles and responsibilities evolving and what will the situation be in ten years’ time?, outlines the changing and evolving roles and responsibilities in ensuring safe international trade in animals and animal products. Bruckner’s abstract follows. ‘The roles of the … Continue reading →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Agriculture / CCAFS / CGIAR / LIVESTOCKFISH

CGIAR builds its funding and research, including a new program on meat, milk and fish production by and for the poor

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CGIAR Research Program 3.7: One of the slides in a presentation made by ILRI at the CGIAR Fund Council meeting in Montpellier, France, in April 2011 about the program led by ILRI on ‘More meat, milk and fish by and for the poor’ (image credit: ILRI/Staal). A new research program of the Consultative Group on … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Nutrition / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / Vulnerability

Does Africa’s modernizing Horn no longer have room for 20 million drought-adapted livestock herders?

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Letting the herd down to water at the Omo River at Kangate, in southern Ethiopia (photo on Flickr by Carsten ten Brink). Helen de Jode, editor of Modern and Mobile: The Future of Livestock Production in Africa’s Drylands, argues in the Guardian last week that ‘underneath the high visibility famine in the Horn of Africa lies … Continue reading →

Bangladesh / India / Indigenous Breeds / PIM / Policy / Poultry / Pro-Poor Livestock / Report / South Asia

Backyard poultry keeping and poverty reduction in South Asia: Good practices and good returns

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A chicken forages beneath a farm cart in Brahampur (Arwa Village), in West Bengal, India, near drying patties of cow dung that will be used as cooking fuel (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). A South Asia Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Programme, a joint initiative of the National Dairy Development Board of India and the United Nations Food and … Continue reading →

Directorate / East Africa / Event / Germany / ILRI / Kenya / NRM / Pastoralism / Wildlife / WLE

Germany and ILRI sign agreement in Nairobi to collaborate in research to assess the pastoral-livestock-wildlife benefits from Kenya’s eco-conservancies

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited ILRI’s Nairobi campus on 12 Jul 2011: Here, the Chancellor is rising from signing ILRI’s visitors’ book, with German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner, Kenya Agriculture Minister Sally Kosgei and ILRI Director General Carlos Seré looking on (photo credit: ILRI/MacMillan). Nairobi’s Daily Nation newspaper reported yesterday (12 Jul 2011): ‘Kenya has … Continue reading →

Biodiversity / Capacity Strengthening / East Africa / Environment / Event / Farming Systems / Geodata / ILRI / Innovation Systems / Kenya / Launch / NRM / WLE

Kenya’s ecosystems mapped and put online to enhance the country’s education, environment and development

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The World Resources Institute (WRI) is blogging about a collaborative project called Virtual Kenya, which it is leading with the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and Upande Ltd, a Nairobi-based company bringing geographic information systems and web mapping to the African market. ‘Two weeks ago, WRI and Kenyan partners Upande Ltd., Wildlife Clubs of … Continue reading →