The future for livestock farmers could be pretty bleak if we believe everything we read in the press. Is meat really going to give you cancer? Is producing beef wrecking the rainforests and the planet? Are farting cows really a major contributor to climate change? Will millions starve if we don’t all become vegetarians? A … Continue reading
Category Archives: Livelihoods
Africa / Animal Production / Climate Change / Drought / East Africa / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Livelihoods / Livestock / Pastoralism
Coping with drought – livestock insurance
In Kenya, the International Livestock Research Institute, working with partner organisations, has developed an insurance scheme for livestock farmers. The insurance enables farmers to protect their livelihood against the risk of drought. It works through satellite images, which can be used to measure the amount of grazing available in areas covered under the scheme. If … Continue reading
Africa / Animal Production / Dairying / Insurance / Livelihoods / Livestock / Malawi / Southern Africa
Livestock insurance for milk farmers in Malawi
Insuring livestock against risks and uncertainties is the only way that will boost Malawi’s dairy farming. Nico General Insurance, Marketing Manager Mr. Harry Mhone said this Tuesday when Land O’Lakes handed over a milk cooling tank for farmers in Mzuzu. The beneficiaries, Kapacha Milk Bulking Group, will use the tank to store milk before and … Continue reading
A lifetime’s work and livestock swept away in Pakistan
The flooding in Rajanpur, in Pakistan’s Punjab region, 14 August 2010. A man stranded with his remaining animals on a bit of unflooded ground waves for help (photo by Mudassir Ejaz Khan). An Op-Ed in today’s New York Times, written by Daniyal Mueenuddin, a Pakistani mango farmer and writer (author of the story collection ‘In Other … Continue reading
Africa / Dairying / East Africa / GIS / Kenya / Livelihoods / Rwanda
New milk analyser excites dairy farmers
As demand for high quality and fear for contaminated milk increases, a new technology that could restore the fading confidence in the country’s dairy sector is under way, thanks to advancements in technology. The new milk sampling equipment takes a ‘network approach’ using advanced technology that connects the entire sampling processing system through general pocket … Continue reading
Africa / Agriculture / Farming Systems / Fish / ILRI / Livelihoods / Livestock / LIVESTOCKFISH / Research
Can smallholder farmers feed a growing Africa?—Yes, under the right conditions
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
Freedom of movement to help pastoralist lifestyles in East Africa
Pastoralists across East Africa are set to benefit as the region’s national borders are relaxed amid joint efforts to mitigate the risks associated with their migration. “With the coming into effect [on 1 July] of the common market protocol, pastoralists like the Maasai, the Pokot and the Somali who do not believe in borders as … Continue reading
Gates president wants ‘big talk’ at ‘big meetings’ to remain committed to the world’s small farmers
The Huffington Post last week (25 June 2010) published an opinion piece by Sylvia Mathews Burwell, president of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Development Program. She argued the need for ‘big talk’ at forthcoming ‘big meetings’ to remain focused on meeting the needs of the world’s small farmers. ‘The season of big meetings … Continue reading
Robert Zoellick declares ‘the end of the Third World’
‘”If 1989 saw the end of the ‘Second World’ with Communism’s demise, then 2009 saw the end of what was known as the ‘Third World.’ We are now in a new, fast-evolving multi-polar world economy in which some developing countries are emerging as economic powers, others are moving towards becoming additional poles of growth, and … Continue reading
Livestock and livelihoods: a partnership approach
Livestock and pensions provide the main source of livelihood for the farmers living around the Hoachanas settlement situated in the Kalahari Sandveld of Namibia. Small stock, such as goats and sheep, are crucial for food and income, with the area too dry for crop and feed production. But mortality of animals due to dry season … Continue reading
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