Category Archives: Food Security

Agriculture / Biotechnology / East Africa / Event / Food Security / Research / Uganda

GMOs good for Africa–Calestous Juma, Kenyan biotechnology expert and Harvard professor

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Calestous Juma, a Kenyan agricultural and biotechnology expert and professor at Harvard University, gave the keynote presentation at the 2011 launch of Bio-Innovate, at ILRI’s Nairobi campus (photo credit: ILRI). Biotechnology and genetic engineering have the potential to do for agriculture what mobile technology has done for the communications sector in Africa, a renowned Harvard … Continue reading →

CCAFS / Climate Change / Event / Food Security / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Hunger-nutrition-climate nexus: Bringing the conversation down to earth

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Former US Vice President Al Gore speaking at the Hunger, Nutrition, Climate Justice Conference in Dublin, 16 Apr 2013. CGIAR CEO Frank Rijsberman (second from left) looks on. Read more about this event. Photo credit: Vanessa Meadu/CCAFS. ‘What happens when some of the world’s thought leaders in hunger, nutrition and climate justice meet with innovators working … Continue reading →

CGIAR / Climate Change / Event / Food Security / Nutrition

Hunger-nutrition-climate: Can the ‘centre’ hold? Is ‘climate-smart’ agriculture the answer?

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Rain clouds over a farming village near Iringa, Tanzania (photo on Flickr by United Nations /Wolff.) A Hunger-Nutrition-Climate Justice Conference is in its second day of deliberations today (16 Apr) in Dublin. Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, head of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), in southern Africa, and chair of the board of … Continue reading →

Agriculture / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Food Security

Bioscientists meet to boost Africa’s food production

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Seyoum Leta, Bio-Innovate Program Manager. The first Bio-Innovate Regional Scientific Conference was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia  25-27  February 2013 (photo credit: ILRI/Apollo Habtamu). View more conference pictures. SciDev.Net reports on a ‘Bio-Innovate’ conference held 25-27 Feb 2013 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss ways of improving Africa’s agricultural production. The ‘1st Bio-Innovate Regional Scientific … Continue reading →

Cattle / Climate Change / Drylands / Environment / Food Security / Forages / Goats / Pastoralism / Presentation / Sheep / Small Ruminants / Soils / USA / Vulnerability / Wildlife

Want to green the world’s deserts? Do the unthinkable: Put livestock back on them — Allan Savory

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Watch this new provocative 22-minute TedTalk by Allan Savory on ‘How to green the world’s deserts and reverse climate change’. Alan Savory, a Zimbabwean-born biologist/ecologist and rangelands specialist, gives environmentalists pause in a recent TedTalk, published 4 Mar 2013, on the ‘cancer’ of desertification of the world’s drylands, which make up some two-thirds of the … Continue reading →

Article / Event / Film and video / Food Security / Ghana / Human Health / Nutrition / USA / West Africa / Women

Got milk? (or meat or eggs)? The missing ingredients in global nutritional security

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Hidden Hunger from Bob Caputo on Vimeo. Watch this handsomely made film (with superb writing as well as videography), produced in 2010 by National Geographic‘s Bob Caputo (run-time: 26 minutes). ‘Malnutrition does not make headlines the way famine does. But it is far more widespread and deadly. Globally, it affects more than a billion people. It is … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Climate Change / Ethiopia / Food Safety / Food Security / Research

Third Dialogue on Ethiopian agriculture to discuss agricultural research in the face of climate change and food security

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The third Dialogue on Ethiopian Agriculture with the theme “Agricultural Research for National Development in the Face of Climate Change and Food Security” will take place on March 9 and 10, 2013 at Haramaya University. The Dialogue aims to provide a platform to deliberate on policy issues and strategies pertaining to agricultural education, research, technology … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Animal Feeding / Animal Production / CGIAR / Food Security / ILRI / Opinion piece / Research / USA

World Bank president on chicken wings, chicken feed, Super Bowl Sunday (and, ahem, CGIAR)

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Chicken wings cooked with honey and soy (photo on Flickr by TheDeliciousLife). World Bank President Jim Yong Kim became a champion and (sort of) celebrity spokesperson for agricultural-research-for-development this week to the delight of those of us in that (not so celebrity) world. The added bonus for the 700 or so staff of the International … Continue reading →

Africa / Australia / BecA / Directorate / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Nutrition / Presentation

Livestock for Africa’s food security: Sydney launch of Australian International Food Security Centre

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Cattle in Africa (photo on Flickr by Jeff Haskins). Last November (2012), Jimmy Smith, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), took part in a conference, Food Security in Africa: Bridging Research and Practice, held in Sydney, Australia, to launch the Australian International Food Security Centre (AIFSC). At the conference, the AIFSC announced an … Continue reading →

Agriculture / CCAFS / Climate Change / Food Security / ILRI / Report

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

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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 →