Category Archives: Food Security

Animal Feeding / Climate Change / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Markets / Pastoralism / Project / Vulnerability / Women

New EU-funded project to support Kenya dryland livestock markets and women camel milk traders

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Women herding camels in Kenya (photo on Flickr by Curt Carnemark/World Bank Photo Collection). Polly Ericksen, a senior scientist with the People, Livestock and Environment Theme at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), announced to the ILRI community last Friday new funding from the European Union that will finance a three-year food security project that … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Environment / Event / Food Security

The road back to Rio: Will an opportunity for a safer, fairer, more united world be squandered?

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Rain clouds over a farming village near Iringa, Tanzania; time is running out for forging a new pact at Rio+20 this month for the world’s sustainable development and food security (photo on Flickr by United Nations/Wolff). The BBC environment correspondent Richard Black reports today that time is running out for countries now negotiating key issues … Continue reading →

Burkina Faso / Climate Change / Directorate / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Eritrea / Ethiopia / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Mali / Niger / Nigeria / Pastoralism / Policy / Senegal / Somalia / Sudan / Uganda / Vulnerability / West Africa

Hunger in Sahel worsens as ‘lean season’ begins: ‘The worst is yet to come’

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Football legend Raul Gonzalez, Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), learns while speaking to goat herders in Chad that protecting people’s livestock is essential for preventing them from falling into the danger zone during the current food crisis. Livestock will also be essential, the people say, for helping them to … Continue reading →

Agriculture / CCAFS / CGIAR / Food Security / Interview / Knowledge and Information / Research

At Rio+20 agriculture and environment must become ‘best friends’ – Frank Rijsberman

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Farm landscape in Lalibela, northern Ethiopia (photo on Flickr by Philip Kromer). ‘In the run-up to RIO+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), CGIAR, the global agricultural research partnership, issued a call-to-action. In this seven-point plan, CGIAR outlines how agricultural research for development can contribute to a more sustainable, food-secure future. ‘Bruce Campbell, Director … Continue reading →

Dairying / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / Human Health / Nutrition / Pastoralism / Report / Vulnerability

Dry-season milk supplies to pastoral children improves their nutrition, development and health

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Fresh camel milk from Somali youths (photo on Flickr by G A Hussein). The Feinstein International Center, at Tufts University (USA), has published a report of a study on the impact of dry-season livestock support on milk supply and child nutrition in Somali Region, Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s Somali Region is the easternmost of Ethiopia’s 9 ethnically … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Food Security / Pastoralism / Vulnerability / West Africa

Extreme hunger in East Africa and the Sahel: Building response systems that work

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Arid soils in Mauritania, where crops have failed because of a severe drought and the Sahel region faces a major food crisis: Over 700,000 people are affected in Mauritania and 12 million across West Africa (picture credit: Pablo Tosco/Oxfam International). Senegalese singer Baaba Maal has visited Mauritanian communities at the center of the current food crisis … Continue reading →

Agriculture / CGIAR / Directorate / Food Security / ILRI / Launch / Policy

Crop, tree, water, livestock and fish scientists call for action at Rio+20 sustainable development summit

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CGIAR centres and initiatives signing a 7-point ‘CGIAR Call to Action’ at the June 2012 Rio+20 UN sustainable development summit. Mark Kinver at the BBC reports today on a global group calling for decision-makers at the June Rio+20 sustainable development summit to take a concerted approach to agricultural policy, based on science. The International Livestock … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Ethiopia / Food Security / Ghana / Nutrition / Presentation / Tanzania

President Obama: Sustaining commitments, speeding things up, for African food security

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Last week at the 2012 G8 Summit in the USA, Oxfam International asked world leaders to join smallholder farmers and developing countries to fight hunger by delivering on their previous pledges and recommitting for the future by joining its Grow Campaign (image credit: Oxfam International). Last week, on 18 May and the eve of the 2012 … Continue reading →

CCAFS / CGIAR / Climate Change / Environment / Food Security / ILRI / NRM / Opinion piece

Move our global food systems into a ‘safe space’–Memo to G8 from CGIAR’s Bruce Campbell

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Watch this elegant 6-minute film: How to fed the world by 2050: Actions in a changing climate. Film summary: To achieve food security in a changing climate, the global community must operate within three limits: the quantity of food that can be produced under a given climate; the quantity needed by a growing and changing … Continue reading →

Animal Breeding / Animal Diseases / Animal Feeding / Animal Health / Animal Production / Food Security / Livestock / Research

The future of hunger: How animal science supports global food security

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In the past few weeks, Madeline McCurry-Schmidt has published a series of short pieces exploring ways that animal scientists can help feed the world’s growing population. Published on the American Society of Animal Science ‘Taking Stock’ blog, the five articles covered: Part 1 – explored the coming food crisis from a livestock perspective Part 2 … Continue reading →