CGIAR Research Programs
Farmer Jocia De Sousa pounds maize for her daily meal in Muchamba Village, in Mozambique’s Tete Province (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). ‘Next stop for policymakers gathered in Rome for World Food Day should be Cancun, venue of the climate change summit,’ says Olivier De Schutter, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, on the … Continue reading
‘Like millions of other farmers across Pakistan, Abdur Razzaq of district Kot Addu lost the majority of his crops and livestock to the floodwaters that swept through the country in August. He estimates his financial loss this year around $3,000 – a huge blow given the poverty in rural Pakistan. ‘But his problems are compounded … Continue reading
Interventions to strengthen the livestock sector in the developing world help reduce poverty and hunger because hundreds of millions of rural households rely heavily on livestock to sustain their livelihoods. Farm animals generate opportunities for on- and off-farm employment and provide important supplements to the cereal-based diets of the less well-to-do. At the same time, … Continue reading
What kind of food production can: drastically reduce poverty, reduce climate change and cool the planet, restore biodiversity, soil fertility and water resources, improve livelihoods and provide employment for billions of people, produce enough, good, and nutritious food for 9 billion people or more? Find out what the Development Fund (of Norway) thinks Continue reading
Changing tropical farming methods could cut emissions of methane and carbon dioxide by up to 417 Mt of carbon dioxide-equivalent by 2030, around 12% of livestock-related worldwide emissions of the greenhouse gases. That’s according to a team from Copenhagen and Kenya, who believe that the most likely levels of emissions cuts could be worth $1.3 … Continue reading
Brazil has revolutionized its own farms. Can it do the same for others? IN A remote corner of Bahia state, in north-eastern Brazil, a vast new farm is springing out of the dry bush. Thirty years ago eucalyptus and pine were planted in this part of the cerrado (Brazil’s savannah). Native shrubs later reclaimed some … Continue reading
An interesting paper has appeared this week, published in the science journal Food Policy. It reviews evidence of the impacts of research conducted since 2000 by 15 centres belonging to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), one of which is the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), based in Africa. Below is a glossary … Continue reading
This working paper by Berhanu Gebremedhin, Gebremedhin Woldewahid, Yigzaw Dessalegn, Tilahun Gebey and Worku Teka on Sustainable land management through market oriented commodity development: Case studies from Ethiopia was released on 30 August, 2010. Land degradation has been identified as severe environmental problem in Ethiopia, especially since the early 1970s. Because there is significant degradation … Continue reading
‘Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has been appointed to an unpaid part-time position on a “high-level” United Nations panel tackling global sustainability issues. ‘Mr Rudd last month confirmed he had been approached by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to become involved with the United Nations project. ‘The appointment would require Mr Rudd to attend three meetings … Continue reading
Peter Karanja sells eggs in Nairobi (credit: ILRI / Mann) Intense proposal development work by the 15 centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and their many research partners is coming down to the wire this month, with the deadline for submitting these proposals, 1 September 2010, fast approaching. The proposals are … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 