Regina Frazer: Maize, potato, cassava, chicken, dove, pig and vegetable farmer in central Malawi (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). A Guardian blog post today argues that the world’s many small farmers are critical to solving the world’s food, and food price, crises. The blog says, ‘We should celebrate one of the largest but least recognised groups in … Continue reading
In February 2011, Rikin Ghandi spoke to people on the ILRI campus about the work of Digital Green to reinforce agricultural extension through the use of participatory video with farmers. More on Digital Green Continue reading
A short (4:25-minute) film, ‘Voices for Change’, produced by the Fund Office of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), was launched at the CGIAR 2009 Business Meeting in Washington DC. This video aims to inspire CGIAR stakeholders to shape a future that they want to see through the work of the CGIAR and … Continue reading
In the Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog this week, Madeleine Bunting discusses ‘Charles Kenny’s cheerful polemic counters the current development pessimism on aid. ‘After plenty of aid pessimism, here is a relentlessly cheerful polemic, Getting Better, which is delighting development experts in the US and the UK. Charles Kenny’s book celebrates an era of unprecedented human … Continue reading
The Fund Office of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) recently produced two publications summing up past and current accomplishments in the CGIAR. What the CGIAR has accomplished in 4 decades First is a brochure celebrating, and listing, 40 impacts of 40 years of CGIAR Research: 1971–2011, which provides the following assessment. ‘The … Continue reading
A new brochure, ‘Changing agricultural research in a changing world,’ in long and short versions, has been produced by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) on why the CGIAR has reformed and how the world will benefit. The following is a transcript of the short version. ‘Agriculture in the developing world faces unprecedented … Continue reading
Animal source foods, such as milk, dairy products, eggs, fish and meat, are important sources of nutrition and their production and processing supports the livelihoods of millions of poor farmers, traders, retailers and other value chain actors (many of them women) while providing cheap and nutritious food to large numbers of poor consumers. In India … Continue reading
ILRI has worked with Indonesia to control bird flu using participatory disease surveillance and control approaches (photo credit: ILRI/Jost). The World Bank this week reports that since the beginning of this year, the H5N1 bird flu virus has re-emerged, killing people in Egypt and across Asia. Experts say we need to invest in stronger human … Continue reading
Delia Grace, a veterinary epidemiologist with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), works in Africa and South and Southeast Asia on livestock food safety and disease issues (picture credit: ILRI/Mann). With more than 6 billion people and over 20 billion livestock, the world is getting crowded—with risks increasing of livestock diseases causing devastating human as … Continue reading
Women taking goods to market (photo credit: ILRI/Kebede). The New Agriculturist this month provides a snapshot of views about where we are in gender research for agricultural development. Journalist Olivia Schwier collected these viewpoints at a ‘Gender and Market-Oriented Agriculture’ workshop held 31 January—2 February 2011 in Addis Ababa. Lessons from case studies in gender work … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 