Category Archives: Latin America

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / CCAFS / Climate Change / Food Security / ILRI / Latin America

Guardian blogs about ILRI-CCAFS ‘hotspots’ study

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The Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog writes today of a research study launched today that indicates that climate change in the tropics poses a food threat to the world’s poor. Blog writer John Vidal cites the report, developed by scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the CGIAR Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / Climate Change / Epidemiology / Farming Systems / Laos / Latin America / NRM / WLE

Invest in small-scale ‘renewable’ farming: Good for the poor and good for the planet

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A homestead in Thachock Village, Laos (photo credit: Flickr photostream of MAG [Mines Advisory Group]). . . . [P]olicy-makers think they have to choose between feeding the world and protecting the environment—a straight choice. Does it have to be this way? No. To the contrary—we can and must achieve both, or we will fail on … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / Latin America / USA

‘Helping farmers become self-sufficient is one of the most effective ways to reduce poverty and hunger’–Gates and Shah

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Fatima Kagenda, 53-year-old maize, potato and cassava farmer, as well as dressmaker and church treasurer, in the village of Khulungira, in central  Malawi, with hoe, crutches and knitting (photo credit: ILRI/CGIAR/Mann). The international development website Devex reports this week that billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates and Rajiv Shah, administrator of the United States Agency for International … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / Caribbean / China / Egypt / Food Safety / Food Security / India / Indonesia / Kenya / Laos / Latin America / Livelihoods / Malawi / Nutrition / Pigs / Poultry / South Africa

Do a billion people really go to bed hungry? Or is a television more important than food?

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Foods of Khulungira Village, in central Malawi: Fish stew (nsomba zophika), boiled maize (chimanga chophika), mixed beans with salt and oil (nyemba zophika), dried mushrooms with groundnuts (bowa wofutsa), pumpkin leaves with pumpkin blossoms and potatoes (nkhwani wophatikiza ndi maungu anthete ndi kachewere wophika) and boiled eggs with tomato, onions, oil and salt (mazira ophika ndi … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / Climate Change / Consumption / Environment / Food Security / Latin America / Markets

Lester Brown on ‘the new geopolitics of food’

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Youth in window of a poor farm household in Milange, located in Zambezia, the most populous province of Mozambique (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, writes in the May/June issue of Foreign Policy on ‘The New Geopolitics of Food: From the Middle East to Madagascar, high prices are spawning land grabs … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / Caribbean / Directorate / ILRI / Latin America

Guyanese to head Kenya-based International Livestock Research Institute

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‘Jimmy Smith has been appointed the new director general designate of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya. ‘ILRI board chair Knut Hove made the announcement at the 35th meeting of the ILRI Board of Trustees, recently, to an afternoon gathering of ILRI staff, management and board. ‘In his announcement, Hove said, “We … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Caribbean / Crop-Livestock / Food Security / Latin America / Malawi

No solution to food crisis without involvement of the world’s small-scale farmers

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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 →

Africa / Asia / BecA / CGIAR / Directorate / Film and video / Latin America / Research

CGIAR ‘Voices for Change’ short film inspires visions of the future

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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 →

Africa / Asia / Latin America

New aid argument shakes up gloomy consensus around development

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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 →

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / CCAFS / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / ILRI / Impact Assessment / Latin America / LIVESTOCKFISH / Research

40 impacts of 40 years of CGIAR Research: 1971–2011–and an update

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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 →