Africa / Drought / Drylands / Food Security / Forages / Genetics / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Landscapes of chronic hunger: Eating food aid in empty deserts and desert slums

Untitled (Desert Landscape), by Salvador Dali, 1934 (source: Wikipaintings.org). Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Paul Salopek has published in Foreign Policy this week a feature article, at times lyrical and elegiac, stemming from a walking trip he and his wife made last August, as a great drought gripped the Horn of Africa, across a part of the arid Turkana … Continue reading

Africa / BecA / Biodiversity / Capacity Strengthening / Event / Genetics / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / Kenya / Opinion piece / Poultry / Women

Changing the face of agriculture in Africa–one (emerging woman) leader at a time

CGIAR AWARD Fellow Sheila Ommeh, working at ILRI-BecA, gives a presentation on the importance of conserving and better using Africa’s native chicken breeds for World Bank vice president Rachel Kyte on 2 Feb 2012 at the World Agroforestry Centre (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan). The Huffington Post this week carries a blog by Sir Gordon Conway, professor of … Continue reading

Drought / East Africa / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Of cell phones, satellites and livestock insurance in Kenya’s Chalbi Desert

ILRI’s Brenda Wandera and Andrew Mude at the launch of the Kenya Government’s ‘Open Data Web Portal’ on 8 Jul 2011 (photo credit: ILRI/Muthoni Njiru). Brenda Wandera, who helps manage an Index-Based Livestock Insurance Project conducted by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and her boss, Andrew Mude, are the focus of an in-depth magazine … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Amharic / East Africa / Ethiopia / Film and video / ILRI / IPMS / Value Chains

የመስኖ ሙዝ ልማት በመተማ ወረዳ [Amharic]

This blog post is in Amharic, if you are seeing boxes download fonts here. ይህ ዶኪመንቴሽን በመተማ ወረዳ የመስኖ ሙዝ ልማት ኤክስቴንሽን ይዞ ቀረቧል፡፡ በመተማ ወረዳ ያሉ አርሶ አደሮችና የወረዳው ግብርና ከ IPMS (በኢትዮጵያ ምርታማነትና የገበያ ስኬት ማሻሻያ) ፕሮጄክት ጋር በመሆን የመስኖ ሙዝ ልማትን ለማስተዋወቅ የጋራ እንቅስቃሴ ፈጥረዋል። በተጨማሪም የአሰራር፣ የ አቅርቦት፣ እና የመረጃ ልውውጥ … Continue reading

Agriculture / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / ILRI

Gates Foundation appoints Ethiopia representative

This week, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation appointed Haddis Tadesse as its representative to Ethiopia.   Tadesse will serve as the foundation’s liaison to the federal government of Ethiopia and the African Union. He also will help the foundation strengthen its relationships with health and development partners operating in Ethiopia, including donor agencies, international NGOs … Continue reading

Animal Products / Dairying / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / LIVESTOCKFISH

East Africa Dairy Development consultations in Ethiopia

From 27 to 29 February, the East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) project is holding a stakeholder/investor consultation meeting in Ethiopia. The specific objectives of this workshop are: To share the vision of EADD2 with key dairy stakeholders in Ethiopia; to obtain views of key dairy sector stakeholders on the current state and development opportunities for … Continue reading

Article / Human Health / ILRI

Will lab-grown meat become an alternative to beef?

Cattle in Mozambique coming in from the fields in the evening (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann).  ‘The world’s first test-tube burger will be ready to eat within months. ‘It will look, feel and, it is hoped, taste, like a regular quarter-pounder, its creator Mark Post told the world’s premier science conference. . . . ‘The “ethical … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / ASF / BecA / Biotechnology / Genetics / Presentation / Project / Research

African biosciences ‘hub’ highlighted at AAAS meeting in Vancouver

With international funding, the Biosciences eastern and central Africa Hub (BecA-ILRI Hub), based in Nairobi, Kenya, and managed by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), is enabling African and international scientists to partner on a wide range of new and exciting research programs. Most of these research programs focus on both animal and crop health … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Amharic / East Africa / Ethiopia / Film and video / ILRI / IPMS / Markets / Value Chains

ሽንኩርት ከምርት ወደ ገበያ በአላማጣ [Amharic]

This blog post is in Amharic, if you are seeing boxes download fonts here. ይህ ዶኪመንቴሽን በአላማጣ ወረዳ የሽንኩርት ምርት ኤክስቴንሽን ይዞ ቀርቧል፡፡ በአላማጣ ወረዳ ያሉ አርሶ አደሮችና የወረዳው ግብርና ከ IPMS (በኢትዮጵያ ምርታማነትና የገበያ ስኬት ማሻሻያ) ፕሮጄክት ጋር በመሆን የሽንኩርት ምርትን ከገበያ የማገናኘት ስራ ላይ የጋራ እንቅስቃሴ ፈጥረዋል። ይህ ዶኪመንቴሽን በአርሶ አደሩ የተደረጉ ተሞክሮዎችና … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / East Africa / Ethiopia / Film and video / ILRI / Innovation Systems / IPMS / Markets / Value Chains

An innovation story: Irrigated banana value chain development in Ethiopia

This innovation story narrates the experience of the Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) project on innovative banana value chain development in Ethiopia. The project introduced banana production systems in the district for the first time in 2005. IPMS together with the stakeholders provided support along the banana value chain on production, input supply and … Continue reading