Category Archives: Drylands

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 →

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 →

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

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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

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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 →

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / CCAFS / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / ILRI / Impact Assessment / Latin America / LIVESTOCKFISH / Research

40 impacts of 40 years of CGIAR Research: 1971–2011–and an update

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The Fund Office of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) recently produced two publications summing up past and current accomplishments in the CGIAR. What the CGIAR has accomplished in 4 decades First is a brochure celebrating, and listing, 40 impacts of 40 years of CGIAR Research: 1971–2011, which provides the following assessment. ‘The … Continue reading →

Animal Breeding / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / Kenya / Pastoralism / Sheep / Small Ruminants

Shepherds saving sheep

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The ‘hairless’ (non-wool-producing), native and worm-resistant red Maasai sheep of East Africa (photo credit: ILRI). An article this week in InterPress Service tells of Samburu pastoral herders working to bring back their native Red Maasai sheep because it does better than other, exotic, breeds, in the increasingly variable climate of northern Kenya. ‘. . . … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Climate Change / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Food Security / Kenya / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Pastoralism

Climate change pilot project launched in northern Kenya

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A new study is looking at the effects of climate change on pastoralists’ communities in northern Kenya. A pilot project on mainstreaming climate change adaptation among the pastoralists of northern Kenya has been launched. The Ministry of Northern Kenya and Development of other Arid Areas through Arid Lands Resource Management Project with partners who include … Continue reading →

Africa / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / Ethiopia / Farming Systems / Kenya / Livestock Systems / Pastoralism

New initiative to include pastoralists in research

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A new initiative that brings together leading pastoralists from Ethiopia and Kenya and researchers to discuss and advance solutions to pastoralist issues, recently met for the second time in Kenya. The ‘University of the Bush’ is designed to link debate with action in the drylands and aims to enable pastoralists to engage with, comment on, … Continue reading →

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

Droughts hitting Kenya more frequently–ILRI’s Andrew Mude

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The drylands of Marsabit District, in northern Kenya (photo credit: ILRI/Mude). ‘With drought striking Kenya every two years, survival becomes an ever more violent occupation. ‘Qampa Re Liban (61), kicks the red soil, hurling up a cloud of dust with the rubber plimsoll on his right foot. ‘“No rain,” he says, leaning on an Ulle … Continue reading →