The IGAD Livestock Policy Initiative just published a working paper on “Livestock and Livelihoods in the IGAD Region: A Policy and Institutional Analysis.” The paper recommends that first and foremost, the dominant ‘production and market access’ narrative should be enhanced by a development paradigm that also appreciates the many livelihoods services provided by livestock, including … Continue reading
Category Archives: Pro-Poor Livestock
Livestock ladders for the poor in Haiti: The exhilaration of new possibilities
Participant in semi-intensive ‘cut-and-carry’ goat production model in Haiti using soil conservation fodder production plots; a man holds the first of the improved breed baby goats in a development project run by Developpement Economique pour un Environnement Durable (photo credit: Nick Hobgood’s Flickr Photostream). ‘Nearly a year after the earthquake in Haiti, more than one … Continue reading
Pakistanis risk their lives for their livestock
Displaced people fleeing Sindh streamed into Balochistan (photo credit: Abdul Majeed Goraya/IRIN); by 4 August 2010, Pakistan’s worst flooding in 80 years had affected 3.2 million people. A report last August 2010 from Reuters AlertNet about Pakistan’s struggles to move its flood victims out of danger highlights how important livestock are to Pakistan’s poor. Many … Continue reading
Africa / Asia / Food Safety / ILRI / Knowledge and Information / Latin America / Livelihoods / Mozambique / Pro-Poor Livestock
Reality checks for advocates of jatropha and food safety standards for the poor
Estevao Carlos, a pork seller in Morrumbala District, in Zambezia, the most populated province of Mozambique (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). Two useful reality checks have appeared this week for those of us in the agricultural research for development business. (1) The first concerns the hardy jatropha tree, widely heralded as a miracle biofuel source. Miyuki Iiyama, … Continue reading
Africa / Animal Production / Asia / Climate Change / Environment / Latin America / Livestock Systems / Pro-Poor Livestock
Simple livestock production changes could help both farmers and the environment
Typical smallholder livestock household in Berhampore Village, West Bengal, India (photo credit: ILRI/MacMillan). The following excerpts are from an article by Philip Thornton published yesterday (1 November 2010) in a Global Food Security Blog. Thornton cites a new paper he and his colleague Mario Herrero have published in a prestigious scientific journal that outlines how … Continue reading
Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Directorate / Food Security / ILRI / Latin America / Pro-Poor Livestock / Research
‘Complex’ Third World animal agriculture and food security highlighted at Minnesota ‘UN General Assembly’
A Gujjar child rests against her favourite buffalo on a trek in the Himalayan foothills; the Muslim transhumant Gujjar of northern India as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan are among the estimated one billion people worldwide who depend on livestock for their livelihoods (photo credit: ILRI/MacMillan). Both the Minnesota Post and Minnesota Public Radio News … Continue reading
It’s time to recognize the important role livestock play in tackling poverty–Peacock
Livestock landscapes: Farm animals matter to people’s livelihoods and ambitions throughout the countries of the developing world (image credit: ILRI/O’Meara). Christie Peacock, chief executive officer of Farm-Africa, blogged yesterday (18 October 2010) that the contribution livestock make to the rural economy remains under-appreciated by all players in development, except farmers. ‘It’s time for that to change,’ … Continue reading
Prospects for small-scale dairying
Since 2003, the Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Farm Comparison Network have been compiling and analyzing information on dairy sector development and dairy household economics over a wide range of countries across the globe. This book brings these studies together and provides a … Continue reading
Livestock sector policies and programs in developing countries: A menu for practitioners
Interventions to strengthen the livestock sector in the developing world help reduce poverty and hunger because hundreds of millions of rural households rely heavily on livestock to sustain their livelihoods. Farm animals generate opportunities for on- and off-farm employment and provide important supplements to the cereal-based diets of the less well-to-do. At the same time, … Continue reading
Die immergrüne Revolution
Im Kampf gegen den Hunger hat die Weltgemeinschaft ihre Ziele verfehlt—so lautet die Bilanz vor dem Uno-Gipfel. Eine Wende muss her. Damit künftig neun Milliarden Menschen satt werden, sollten nicht Großfarmen, sondern Kleinbauern gefördert werden. Das Essen war knapp im vergangenen Sommer. Monatelang hatte es nicht geregnet. Dorca Mutua, 35, sah, wie erst ihr Kalb … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 