Category Archives: Farming Systems

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Directorate / Farming Systems / Food Security / ILRI / Mozambique / Niger / South Asia

Backing smallholder farmers today could avert food crises tomorrow

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The Guardian‘s Poverty Matters blog today (14 October 2010) published the following opinion piece by Carlos Seré, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). ‘Agribusiness investment would not only transform the lives of farmers in south Asia and Africa, but boost global food security. ‘As food riots continue in Mozambique and food crises … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / Farming Systems / Food Safety / Food Security / Latin America / Nutrition

Where should urban livestock raising be practiced? Where curtailed?

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Dairy cows, buffaloes and other livestock are kept in India’s urban as well as rural areas (photo by ILRI/MacMillan). ‘. . . Urban agriculture can . . . have important benefits for food security. Although the impact might be small, it can be crucial for some groups of society, such as the urban poor as … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Environment / Farming Systems / Food Security / NRM / WLE

A viable food future?

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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 →

Agriculture / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Environment / Ethiopia / Farming Systems

Ethiopia: New Wheat Variety to Deal With Wheat-Killer Diseases

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Gadab Assassa — Like most farmers in Ethiopia, Jundi Hajji expected that the profit from his wheat harvest would be sufficient to feed his family of eight until next year’s harvest. But, following a yellow wheat rust epidemic across the country and on his farm, he is concerned how his family will survive if the … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Climate Change / East Africa / Farming Systems / ILRI / Kenya / Livestock / Research

Preying on small uneducated farmers

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A new study by the International Livestock Research Institute has found that reductions in greenhouse gases could be worth $1 billion dollars to poor livestock farmers if they could sell saved carbon on international markets. Greenhouse gas emissions caused by livestock operations in tropical countries — a major contributor to climate change — could be … Continue reading →

Animal Feeding / Environment / Farming Systems / Livestock Systems

It’s not the livestock–it’s the farming model–that needs changing

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A cow in India eats the wastes of crop production after the grain has been harvested (photo by ILRI / Mann). In a new book, Meat: A Benign Extravagance, Simon Fairlie shows we should not be arguing against all meat eating, but against the current farming model. Fairlie, says Guardian writer George Monbiot,  ‘demonstrates that … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Brazil / Cattle / Farming Systems / Latin America / Livestock Systems

Feeding the world without levelling the forest

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Romosinuano cattle grazing in South America (picture credit: ILRI/Edwin Perez) A July 2010 article in the leading science journal Nature highlights the gains Brazil is making in its agricultural productivity. ‘With its plentiful sun, water and land, Brazil is quickly surpassing other countries in food production and exports. But can it continue to make agricultural … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Farming Systems / Fish / ILRI / Livelihoods / Livestock / LIVESTOCKFISH / Research

Can smallholder farmers feed a growing Africa?—Yes, under the right conditions

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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 →

Agriculture / Crop-Livestock / Environment / Farming Systems / Film and video / North America

‘Bring animals back onto farms’–US food activist Michael Pollan

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Michael Pollan (credit: The Essential Bioneers) The following comments were made by Michael Pollan, US food systems activist, journalist and writer of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Food Rules and other popular books, in ’10 Questions with Michael Pollan’, Time Magazine, 1 February 2010. Q: Can you tell us what your current diet is? And if it … Continue reading →