Swedish-funded Bio-Innovate Program tackling 6 ‘orphan’ food crops of East Africa

Posted on 23 Mar 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Portrait of Joyce Ledson, a farmer growing four ‘orphan’ food crops of the poor—beans, cassava, potato and sweet potato—as well as the ubiquitous maize, in Malawi (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). ‘. . . Six orphan crops chosen for a five-year programme called Bio-resources Innovation Network for Eastern Africa Development (Bio Innovate) are sorghum, millet, cassava, sweet … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Production / East Africa / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Pro-Poor Livestock

Focus of livestock policies in Horn of Africa can be sharpened

Posted on 20 Mar 2011 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

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 →

Agriculture / Burundi / Directorate / East Africa / Ethiopia / Kenya / Rwanda / Tanzania / Uganda

New program to provide grants to East Africa’s bioscientists

Posted on 18 Mar 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Seyoum Leta, manager of the Bio-Innovate Program, speaks at the program’s official launch this week at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi (photo credit: ILRI/MacMillan). ‘A Bioresources Innovation Network for Eastern Africa Development (Bio-Innovate) programme has been launched to provide grants to bioscientists working to improve food production and environmental management in East … Continue reading →

Animal Breeding / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / Kenya / Pastoralism / Sheep / Small Ruminants

Shepherds saving sheep

Posted on 16 Feb 2011 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

The ‘hairless’ (non-wool-producing), native and worm-resistant red Maasai sheep of East Africa (photo credit: ILRI). An article this week in InterPress Service tells of Samburu pastoral herders working to bring back their native Red Maasai sheep because it does better than other, exotic, breeds, in the increasingly variable climate of northern Kenya. ‘. . . … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Climate Change / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Food Security / Kenya / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Pastoralism

Climate change pilot project launched in northern Kenya

Posted on 26 Jan 2011 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

A new study is looking at the effects of climate change on pastoralists’ communities in northern Kenya. A pilot project on mainstreaming climate change adaptation among the pastoralists of northern Kenya has been launched. The Ministry of Northern Kenya and Development of other Arid Areas through Arid Lands Resource Management Project with partners who include … Continue reading →

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

Dairy development institutions in East Africa

Posted on 24 Jan 2011 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

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

Posted on 21 Jan 2011 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

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

University of the Bush – understanding pastoral lives

Posted on 9 Jan 2011 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

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 →

Africa / Agriculture / Dairying / East Africa / Food Security / Nutrition / Rwanda

Rwandan agriculture growing–one cow at a time

Posted on 6 Jan 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

An improved, crossbred, dairy cow made available in Rwanda by an East African Dairy Development project, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and led by Heifer International; the International Livestock Research Institute is a partner in this project (picture credit: ILRI/EADD). Uganda’s Independent recently carried an opinion piece extolling the good progress … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Drought / East Africa / Environment / Knowledge and Information / Livestock / Niger / Women

Could Acacia trees solve Africa’s hunger problems?

Posted on 31 Dec 2010 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

Decades of food delivery and ‘miracle’ seeds haven’t addressed underlying causes of hunger. But new efforts to replicate Africa’s original ecosystems are generating impressive, sustainable results Faith-based aid groups in Africa have a long and mostly admirable history of working to alleviate hunger. Too often, however, faith groups have focused their relief solely on food … Continue reading →