New USAID grant to asses projects aiming to reduce poverty and the need for food aid in Kenya’s drylands
Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / News clipping / Pastoralism / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Resilience / SLS / Vulnerability

New USAID grant to asses projects aiming to reduce poverty and the need for food aid in Kenya’s drylands

A new grant funds a project, recently launched by UC Davis researchers in northern Kenya, that will use a randomized, controlled trial to evaluate the impacts of combining programs that offer training, support and aid with affordable insurance to reduce chronic poverty.

The new project is led by Michael Carter, a professor of agricultural and resource economics and director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Assets and Market Access at UCD, and Andrew Mude from the International Livestock Research Institute, or ILRI, in Kenya. The researchers hope the project will help create a pathway out of poverty and reduce the need for aid, which Kenya’s government provides each year, even without drought. Continue reading

CGIAR integrated systems research for sustainable agricultural development in the Mekong—New book
Agriculture / Books and chapters / Capacity Strengthening / CGIAR / China / Crop-Livestock / Environment / Farming Systems / Humid Tropics / HUMIDTROPICS / ILRI / Impact Assessment / Innovation Systems / Intensification / Laos / Markets / NRM / Participation / PIL / Policy / Report / Soils / Southeast Asia / Thailand / Value Chains / Vietnam

CGIAR integrated systems research for sustainable agricultural development in the Mekong—New book

The CGIAR Research Program on Integrated Systems for the Humid Tropics (Humidtropics) was an agricultural research for development program that aimed for sustainable intensification of agricultural systems to improve the livelihoods of farm households. The Central Mekong Action Area was primarily focused on the complex of rice and non-rice farming systems (plus areas with other land uses) in the non-flood-prone lowlands, uplands and highlands. The Action Area covered six countries (Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam). Continue reading

Kenya risks losing 18 animal and bird species, and the ecosystem services they provide—Research report
Article / Biodiversity / East Africa / Environment / Geodata / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Policy / Rangelands / Science paper / SLS / Wildlife

Kenya risks losing 18 animal and bird species, and the ecosystem services they provide—Research report

A group of scientists led by Dr Joseph Ogutu say Kenya risks losing 18 animal and bird species due to negligence. They include warthogs, lesser kudu, Thomson’s gazelle, eland, oryx, topi, hartebeest, impala, Grévy’s zebra, waterbuck, wildebeest, giraffe, gerenuk, Grant’s gazelle, buffalo, elephant, ostrich and Burchell’s zebra. Continue reading

Science: The fuel for human progress—by Bill Gates
Disease Control / France / Human Health / Innovation Systems / Opinion piece / Policy / Poverty / Research / UK

Science: The fuel for human progress—by Bill Gates

The following remarks are excerpted from an opinion piece written by Bill Gates and published on his Gates Notes blog. ‘The first promise of any good politician is to make people’s lives better, and scientific research leading to innovation is one of the best ways to honor that promise . . . .’ Continue reading

To end poverty without wrecking the environment, put people first—New series by Nathanael Johnson
Agriculture / Article / Environment / Livelihoods / Policy / Poverty

To end poverty without wrecking the environment, put people first—New series by Nathanael Johnson

Nathanael Johnson, a talented food writer at Grist, a non-profit environmental news and commentary site based in Seattle, has published a thoughtful special series of eight articles around a question seldom looked at squarely in the eye—that is: How can we eliminate absolute poverty from the world without destroying the environment in the process? Continue reading

Publish or perish: Towards diagnosing, and solving, chronic underinvestment in developing-country research
Article / Capacity Strengthening / Knowledge and Information / Policy / Research

Publish or perish: Towards diagnosing, and solving, chronic underinvestment in developing-country research

There is a vicious circle of under-investment in research in developing countries, especially in the social sciences. To make matters worse, expenditure on social science research is generally less than 20% of gross expenditure on R&D Continue reading

The rise of ‘superbugs’ presents a nightmare scenario—the beginning of the end of modern medicine
Agri-Health / AMR / Article / Disease Control / Human Health / Policy

The rise of ‘superbugs’ presents a nightmare scenario—the beginning of the end of modern medicine

Lethal bacteria are showing resistance to more and more antibiotics, and financial and legal hurdles are making it harder than ever for science to create effective new drugs. . . . The arsenal of antibiotics is nearly empty. And significant financial and legal hurdles are getting in the way of the already challenging process of discovering effective new ones. Continue reading

First map of smallholder farms in the developing world: They produce more than half the planet’s food calories
Agriculture / Article / Food Security / Geodata / Policy / Vulnerability

First map of smallholder farms in the developing world: They produce more than half the planet’s food calories

Researchers at the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment have used household census data to map smallholder farms in developing countries. Despite the fact that smallholder and family farms are crucial to feeding the planet, little is known regarding the location and size of smallholder farms. This study attempts to fill this knowledge gap. Continue reading

Towards a new global research agenda for nourishing—rather than just feeding—people
A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Consumption / Human Health / Nutrition / Policy / Research

Towards a new global research agenda for nourishing—rather than just feeding—people

The era of commodity research aimed at feeding a starving world is over. A new era has begun that requires us to nourish everyone in ways that can be sustained environmentally, economically and culturally. Policymakers urgently need to recognize that diets are compromising economic productivity and well-being as never before. Continue reading

Fighting climate change in a post-modernist world of pop art politics—Opinion by Phil Thornton
CCAFS / Climate Change / Environment / Europe / ILRI / North America / Opinion piece / Policy / Research / SLS / UK / USA

Fighting climate change in a post-modernist world of pop art politics—Opinion by Phil Thornton

Phil Thornton leads CGIAR research on institutions and policies for climate-resilient food systems. He makes the case for better and closer scientist-citizen engagement in an opinion piece published this week in the wake of this year’s national political election results in Australia, the UK and the USA. Continue reading