‘Give a woman a fish and she eats for a day, teach her to fish and she eats her for a lifetime’ goes the proverb (sort of); but give her access to markets and she earns a living, and give her community resources to fish sustainably and she can feed the world

Posted on 3 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Demetria Solomon, 54-year-old farmer growing maize, potato, sota, green beans (and former secretary of the local irrigation scheme) in Khulungira Village, central Malawi (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). Over at SciDev.Net, David Dickson is making the case for joined-up thinking in development work. ‘A holistic approach is also essential for building the solid infrastructure and social systems … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Production / Asia / Climate Change / Environment / Latin America / Livestock Systems / Pro-Poor Livestock

Simple livestock production changes could help both farmers and the environment

Posted on 2 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

Typical smallholder livestock household in Berhampore Village, West Bengal, India (photo credit: ILRI/MacMillan). The following excerpts are from an article by Philip Thornton published yesterday (1 November 2010) in a Global Food Security Blog. Thornton cites a new paper he and his colleague Mario Herrero have published in a prestigious scientific journal that outlines how … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / Biodiversity / CGIAR / Environment / Indigenous Breeds / Latin America

Crop and livestock agricultural research centres welcome Nagoya Protocol

Posted on 1 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

A herdsboy rides one of his small native mountain buffaloes in northern Viet Nam (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). Bioversity International and the other 14 centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), including the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), welcome the Nagoya Protocol that was hammered out at the eleventh hour in the central … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Latin America

With Clinton and Shah, will USAID regain its leadership role in development assistance?

Posted on 1 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton with women from AWARD—African Women in Agricultural Research and Development—during a tour of the headquarters of the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute, in Nairobi, Kenya, 5 August 2009; Sheila Ommeh, a Kenyan AWARD Fellow and geneticist studying Kenya’s native chicken breeds at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), is … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Impact Assessment / Knowledge and Information / Latin America / Research / Women

Find out what’s new at the new Consortium of Centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research

Posted on 31 Oct 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Home page of the website of the Consortium of CGIAR Centers. You’ll find news of the new Consortium of Centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), to which the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) belongs, posted by the consortium’s communications officer, Elizabeth Clarke, in the What’s New section of the Consortium website. … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Climate Change / Food Security / Latin America / Livelihoods

Smallholder agriculture key to ‘climate-smart’ growth–Nwanze

Posted on 31 Oct 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

A young woman tends the goats she is fattening for sale in a village near Fakara, in Niger (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). The International Fund for Agricultural Development is arguing for support for smallholder agriculture at the forthcoming week-long Hague Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change, which starts today (31 October 2010). The conference … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Directorate / Food Security / ILRI / Latin America / Pro-Poor Livestock / Research

‘Complex’ Third World animal agriculture and food security highlighted at Minnesota ‘UN General Assembly’

Posted on 25 Oct 2010 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

A Gujjar child rests against her favourite buffalo on a trek in the Himalayan foothills; the Muslim transhumant Gujjar of northern India as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan are among the estimated one billion people worldwide who depend on livestock for their livelihoods (photo credit: ILRI/MacMillan). Both the Minnesota Post and Minnesota Public Radio News … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / Biodiversity / Environment / Indigenous Breeds / Latin America

Biodiversity: Nagoya talks stall on who should pay for it

Posted on 24 Oct 2010 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

West Africa’s ancient (humpless) N’Dama and East Africa’s Improved Boran cattle are two of the continent’s important indigenous breeds (photo credit ILRI/Elsworth). The Economist reports in its current issue (21 October 2010) that things are not going so well at the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity, … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / Latin America / Livestock Systems / Pro-Poor Livestock

It’s time to recognize the important role livestock play in tackling poverty–Peacock

Posted on 19 Oct 2010 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

Livestock landscapes: Farm animals matter to people’s livelihoods and ambitions throughout the countries of the developing world (image credit: ILRI/O’Meara). Christie Peacock, chief executive officer of Farm-Africa, blogged yesterday (18 October 2010) that the contribution livestock make to the rural economy remains under-appreciated by all players in development, except farmers. ‘It’s time for that to change,’ … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / Biodiversity / CGIAR / Genebank / Indigenous Breeds / Latin America / Uganda / Vietnam

At the UN biodiversity meeting in Japan this week: Should endangered livestock breeds as well as crop varieties be saved?