‘Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has been appointed to an unpaid part-time position on a “high-level” United Nations panel tackling global sustainability issues. ‘Mr Rudd last month confirmed he had been approached by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to become involved with the United Nations project. ‘The appointment would require Mr Rudd to attend three meetings … Continue reading
This working paper by Solomon Gizaw, Azage Tegegne, Berhanu Gebremedhin and Dirk Hoekstra on Sheep and goat production and marketing systems in Ethiopia: characteristics and strategies for improvement was released on 12 August, 2010. Ethiopia is home for a large and diverse livestock resources and favourable production environments. The vast majority of the rural population’s … Continue reading
Trading livestock domestically and regionally, rather than globally, offers the best route out of poverty for southern Africa, according to recent research from the STEPS Centre based at IDS. The work, funded by the Wellcome Trust’s Livestock for Life programme, looked at the beef industry in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, and questioned whether … Continue reading
Since 2008, the Parsel project has been monitoring cattle and wild hoofed animal movements in the Zimbabwe National Park. The aim is to understand and limit the spread of certain diseases. The results obtained so far are so encouraging that the protocol has just been extended to South Africa and Mozambique. Read more … (CIRAD) Continue reading
Better days are dawning for farmers faced with problems of pasture for their livestock, now that scientists majoring in crop production research are improving on the nutritional content of pasture here. The scientists from the National Crop Resources Research Institute at Namulonge Department of Forage Research Programme are currently conducting research on various types of … Continue reading
Even though locally-adapted, diversified agriculture and farming is a key component of both food security today and in a warmer more climate-stressed future, the Big Ag trend is still towards less crop diversity and more uniformity. Here’s a perfect example of the downside of that. Read more … (Treehugger) Continue reading
FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf yesterday commended Namibia for acting swiftly and effectively to halt the spread of Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in the country during recent outbreaks. Speaking at a meeting in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry in Windhoek, Diouf praised the Namibian institutions involved. “Their alertness and prompt reaction prevented outbreaks of … Continue reading
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
Adapting agriculture to climate change should have twin purposes: adapting to prevent further damage to the environment, and adapting to produce food despite the impact of climate change. The increasing intensity and frequency of storms, flooding and draught have great impact on agriculture and, therefore, on the food supply. The uncertainties associated with climate change … Continue reading
The following statements are excerpted from All consuming, an article by David Biello on global consumption and population issues published in the current issue of Momentum, published by the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota. > ‘Two German Shepherds kept as pets in Europe or the U.S. use more resources in a year … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 