A human settlement in northern Kenya, from the air (photo on Flickr by Neil Palmer [CIAT]). A fact-filled, thought-provoking and myth-busting book, which many researchers will have reason to hope will become widely influential, challenges the African ‘drylands myths’ that, despite decades of research that should have overturned them by now, remain entrenched in many … Continue reading
Category Archives: Drylands
Directorate / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Opinion piece / Pastoralism / Vulnerability
Are politicians making political hay – and pastoral havoc – out of diminishing dryland resources in northern Kenya?
Northern Kenya from the air (photo on Flickr by Neil Palmer [CIAT]). ‘The chairman of [Kenya’s] National Cohesion and Integration Commission, Dr Mzalendo Kibunjia, has singled out divisive politicians as the main cause of recent ethnic violence among some pastoral communities. He warned that stern action will be taken against such people. ‘Dr Kibunjia’s observation … Continue reading
CGIAR / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability
Kenyan herders cope with drought by buying livestock insurance
Sake Dabasso Halake stands proudly in front of Equity Bank’s Marsabit branch. She smiles, clutching an envelope filled with 16,000 Kenyan shillings that she just received. It was her insurance payout for the 10 cows she lost during the drought. Photo on Flickr by Jeff Haskins. Jeff Haskins, director of the Nairobi office of Burness … Continue reading
Reducing the vulnerability of dryland pastoralism
Expert opinion agrees that the best way to tap into the potential of the drylands is to build on the foundation of their livestock economies rather than ignoring them or seeking to replace them. Continue reading
Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / Vulnerability
To insure or not to insure: That is the question for Kenyan herders restocking after the great drought of 2011
The first payouts for livestock insurance being made in Marsabit District, in northern Kenya (photo on Flickr by Jeff Haskins). From Reuters AlertNet comes this update on how the livestock herders of Kenya’s Marsabit District are faring. Some bought an innovative livestock insurance product this year that is being piloted by the International Livestock Research … Continue reading
Animal Production / Crop residues / Crop-Livestock / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / ILRI / Intensification / Livestock / Opinion piece / Research
ILRI – ICRISAT collaborating to meet food and feed security needs
For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, William Dar, of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), reflects on ILRI-ICRISAT collaboration on crops-livestock integration in mixed systems … When Michael Blümmel and team organized the inauguration of ILRI’s experimental feed processing unit in their field office at ICRISAT headquarters in … Continue reading
Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Event / Film and video / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability
Insuring the never before insured: Kenyan herders get first drought payouts
Sake Dabasso Halake stands proudly in front of Equity Bank‘s Marsabit branch, clutching an envelope of 16,000 Kenya shillings (USD165) that she received as a payout on an insurance policy she earlier took out for her cows; she lost ten cows in a drought just ending that has hurt the livelihoods of thousands of livestock herders … Continue reading
Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Event / Food Security / Geodata / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability
Satellite images trigger insurance payouts to poor livestock herders in Kenya’s northern dryland frontier
Andrew Mude (right), a scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, explains the livestock insurance payouts made last week to resource-poor livestock herders in Kenya’s Marsabit District in the wake of a great drought in the Horn of Africa that dried up the available forage on Marsabit’s rangelands and caused the … Continue reading
Books and chapters / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / Environment / Food Security / Geodata / Insurance / Livestock-Water / NRM / Pastoralism / Vulnerability / Water / Wildlife / WLE
Rethinking drylands: Time to unlock their (big, neglected) potential
A herd of livestock near Marsabit town, in Kenya’s remote northern pastoral drylands (image on Flickr by Neil Palmer/CIAT). It’s time to unlock the potential of the world’s drylands, which cover more than one-third of the earth and are home to a third of humanity, half of whom—one billion—live in poverty and hunger. The current famine … Continue reading
Africa / Asia / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / Food Security / ILRI / Impact Assessment / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability
Drought responses–New briefing paper on lessons still to learn
‘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
ILRI Clippings 