Category Archives: Africa

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / CGIAR / Directorate / ILRI / Latin America / Research

A new CGIAR waits for donors to come through with promised funds

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Jonathan Wadsworth, formerly of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and newly appointed executive director of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Fund, at a meeting of the CGIAR Transition Management Team in Penang, Malaysia, in 2009 (picture credit: ILRI/MacMillan). The prestigious American science journal Science has published today (4 February 2011) … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / BecA / Human Health

‘Africa rising’–Bill Gates on what’s working in health and agriculture

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Bill Gates made a private visit to the Biosciences eastern and central Africa Hub (BecA Hub), hosted and managed by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, in early December 2009, and toured the new and refurbished labs (photo credit: ILRI/Ouma). Bill Gates writes in his third annual letter that he sees ‘Africa … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Production / Animal Products / Dairying / East Africa / Kenya / Livestock / Tanzania / Uganda

Dairy development institutions in East Africa

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This publication from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is the first report of studies on three national dairy development institutions in East Africa – Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The composition, role, structure, shortcomings and future prospects of each national dairy institution are reviewed in order to provide readers with insights as to how to … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Feeding / Animal Health / Animal Production / East Africa / Kenya / Livestock / Livestock Systems

Farm-Africa to launch livestock services franchises in Kenya

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FARM-Africa recently announced that it has received funding to develop the first franchise business model that will establish a chain of new veterinary stores to provide quality, accessible and affordable livestock services including clinical services, veterinary drugs, farm inputs, animal feeds and artificial insemination in Africa. Through a US$5m grant from the Bill & Melinda … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Production / Livestock Systems / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

International conference to debate the future of pastoralists in Africa

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In March 2011, Addis Ababa will be host to conference on the future of pastoralism in Africa. The Future Agricultures Consortium (FAC) and the Feinstein International Center of Tufts University are hosting this academic conference to critically reflect on the future of pastoralism in Africa and to share new learning from the dynamics of change … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Animal Feeding / Ethiopia / ILRI / IPMS / Livestock / NRM / Research / WLE

Rangeland condition and feed resources in Metema district, North Gondar Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

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This working paper by Tesfaye Desalew, Azage Tegegne, Lisanework Nigatu and Worku Teka on Rangeland condition and feed resources in Metema district, North Gondar Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia was released on 10 January, 2011. It focuses on a study conducted in 2006/07 in Metema district, North Gondar Zone of Amhara region, Ethiopia, with the objectives … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Animal Production / Climate Change / Drought / Environment / Food Security / Kenya / Uganda

World hunger best cured by small-scale agriculture: report

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A move from industrial farming towards local food projects is our healthiest, most sustainable choice, says Worldwatch Institute The key to alleviating world hunger, poverty and combating climate change may lie in fresh, small-scale approaches to agriculture, according to a report from the Worldwatch Institute. The US-based institute’s annual State of the World report, published … Continue reading →

Africa / CCAFS / Climate Change

‘It’s completely obvious what’s going on’–African leaders on climate change

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A youth with his weeding tool sets out to tend to his sorghum crop in Katanga Village, near Fakara, in Niger (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). Africa’s agricultural sector experiences many of the impacts of climate change even though the continent is a minor contributor of greenhouse gases. African leaders and governments are part of on-going global … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / Ghana / Latin America / Livelihoods / Markets / Vietnam

More good news–for everyone—on the world’s emerging ’emerging markets’

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Canned dairy products are now for sale, along with fresh milk and live chickens and goats, at Maputo’s once solely traditional and ‘wet’ Xipamamime market, in Mozambique (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). More good news on the development front. We previously reported here (Here be dragons, 2 January 2011) progress being made by Viet Nam and Ghana … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Production / East Africa / Ethiopia / Kenya / Livestock Systems / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

University of the Bush – understanding pastoral lives

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In November 2010, more than 50 pastoralists, politicians, donors and researchers met in Kenya to discuss the place of nomadic livestock keeping in national development, recent research findings and future policy options. Unusually, the meeting took place not in a conference centre but under an acacia tree, on the edge of a national park – … Continue reading →