Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / CCAFS / CGIAR / Climate Change / Food Security / ILRI / Latin America

‘Lifeline’ food crops at risk of climate change: Major adaptation efforts needed, says CGIAR study

Rose Mnjemo with soya beans, a maize, soya and cassava farmer from Khulungira Village, in central Malawi (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). Agence France Presse reports on a 2012 international study that found that climate change is on track to disrupt lifeline food crops across large swathes of Africa and Asia already mired in chronic poverty. More … Continue reading

A4NH / Agri-Health / Agriculture / Human Health / Impact Assessment

Measuring the effects of integrated agriculture-health interventions

A recent workshop by the Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health (LCIRAH) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)’s Agriculture and Health Research Platform brought together health, nutrition and agriculture specialists to explore the development of common tools and methods to evaluate integrated agri-health interventions. More on the workshop Download the … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / CCAFS / China / Climate Change / Food Security / ILRI / Latin America

Where survival is linked to fate of farm crops and animals, climate shifts can be disastrous – Polly Ericksen

ILRI’s Polly Erickson presents the results of her study, Mapping Hotspots of Climate Change and Food Insecurity in the Global Tropics, produced for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), at a seminar at the World Agroforestry Centre (photo credit: ILRI/MacMillan). The US News and World Report writes about a recent study … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / CCAFS / Climate Change / Food Security / ILRI / Latin America

Round-up of first news clippings on ILRI-CCAFS ‘hotspots’ of climate change and food insecurity study

Below is a round-up of some of the first news clippings generated by the 3 June 2011 launch of an ILRI-CCAFS report, Mapping hotspots of climate change and food insecurity in the global tropics, by Polly Ericksen, Philip Thornton, An Notenbaert, L Cramer, Peter Jones and Mario Herrero 2011. CCAFS Report no. 5 (advance copy). CGIAR Research Program … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / CCAFS / Climate Change / Food Security / ILRI / Latin America

Time Magazine and CGIAR say small poor farms + big climate change = ‘A PERFECT STORM’

Time Magazine‘s Bryan Walsh reports this week on report and series of maps detailing where climate change and hunger are likely to intersect in future, with possibly devastating results unless the world’s agricultural researchers manage to help small-scale farmers ‘climate-proof’ their crops and livestock in the coming (drying, flooding) decades. The study was led by scientists … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Burkina Faso / Caribbean / CCAFS / CGIAR / Climate Change / Food Security / ILRI / Latin America / Mali / Niger / South Africa

Climate change threatens ability of the poorest people to feed themselves

Number of malnourished children per square km, from the advance copy of ‘Mapping Hotspots of Climate Change and Food Insecurity in the Global Tropics,’ by ILRI scientists Polly Ericksen et al., published on 3 June 2011 (map credit: ILRI/CCAFS). The BBC reports on a new study saying that some areas in the tropics face famine … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / CCAFS / Climate Change / Food Security / ILRI / Latin America

Guardian blogs about ILRI-CCAFS ‘hotspots’ study

The Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog writes today of a research study launched today that indicates that climate change in the tropics poses a food threat to the world’s poor. Blog writer John Vidal cites the report, developed by scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the CGIAR Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / Climate Change / Epidemiology / Farming Systems / Laos / Latin America / NRM / WLE

Invest in small-scale ‘renewable’ farming: Good for the poor and good for the planet

A homestead in Thachock Village, Laos (photo credit: Flickr photostream of MAG [Mines Advisory Group]). . . . [P]olicy-makers think they have to choose between feeding the world and protecting the environment—a straight choice. Does it have to be this way? No. To the contrary—we can and must achieve both, or we will fail on … 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

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

Animal Production / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / ILRI / India / Innovation Systems / Mozambique / South Asia / Southern Africa / Trade / Value Chains / Women

Reducing hunger and poverty through goat ‘value chains’ in India and Mozambique

In many of the world’s dry areas, goats provide poor people with nutrition and livelihoods. An imGoats Project is working to transform the lives of goat keepers in India and Mozambique by turning their subsistence-level goat production into viable and profitable enterprises. This two-year (2011–2012) project aims to improve the performance of small ruminant value … Continue reading