Multi-donor trust fund to spur multi-partner science tackling big food production problems in poor countries

Posted on 9 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

From a new blog from the Fund Office of the Consultative Group on International Agriculutral Research (CGIAR), to which the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) belongs, comes this news about new funding for agricultural research for development. ‘In a powerful display of solidarity with the world’s poor, key donors and stakeholders meeting in Washington, D.C. … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Environment / Ethiopia / Kenya / Livelihoods / Livestock / Namibia

Reversing desertification with livestock in Zimbabwe

Posted on 9 Nov 2010 by ILRI Communications • 1 Comment

Overgrazing is often seen as a major cause of desertification. But by changing the way animals are managed, the Savory Institute (SI) and Africa Center for Holistic Management (ACHM) have restored 2,700 hectares of degraded land close to Victoria Falls by increasing livestock numbers by 400 per cent. Having increased land productivity, water availability and … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / BecA / Biotechnology / Canada / Capacity Strengthening / Central Africa / Directorate / East Africa / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Research

Kenya President Mwai Kibaki officially opens state-of-the-art biosciences facilities at ILRI’s Nairobi campus

Posted on 7 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

(Left to right): Knut Hove, chairman of the board of trustees of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI); Carlos Seré, director general of ILRI; His Excellency President Mwai Kibaki; Bruce Scott, director of Partnerships and Communications at ILRI; Segenet Kelemu, director of the BecA Hub; and Gertrude Ngeleshi, training officer at ILRI, await the President … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Innovation Systems / Knowledge and Information / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Markets / Research / Southern Africa / Value Chains

Innovation platforms for market development and technology uptake in Southern Africa

Posted on 5 Nov 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

At the ILRI-hosted ‘AgKnowledge Africa‘ share fair and the 5th All Africa conference on animal agriculture, Andre van Rooyen shared ICRISAT experiences with ‘innovation platforms’ for market development and technology uptake in Southern Africa. Such ‘innovation platforms’ – spaces which allow individuals and organizations to come together to address issues of mutual concern and interest … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / Food Safety / ILRI / Knowledge and Information / Latin America / Livelihoods / Mozambique / Pro-Poor Livestock

Reality checks for advocates of jatropha and food safety standards for the poor

Posted on 3 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • 3 Comments

Estevao Carlos, a pork seller in Morrumbala District, in Zambezia, the most populated province of Mozambique (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). Two useful reality checks have appeared this week for those of us in the agricultural research for development business. (1) The first concerns the hardy jatropha tree, widely heralded as a miracle biofuel source. Miyuki Iiyama, … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Capacity Strengthening / Farming Systems / Fish / Food Security / Innovation Systems / Knowledge and Information / Latin America / Livelihoods / Women

‘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 / Biodiversity / East Africa / Environment / NRM / Tanzania / Wildlife / WLE

‘Great Migration’ or ‘Great Poverty’: Can wildlife and humans both thrive in the Greater Serengeti ecosystem?

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

Savanna grasslands of East Africa (photo credit: ILRI/Elsworth). The New York Times reports on the new road the Tanzanian government is planning on building through the northern Serengeti. Is this road, which could disrupt one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on earth, an economic imperative and an ecological disaster? An environmental imperative and an economic … Continue reading →

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