An East African researcher holds handfuls of sweet potato roots and leaves, to be used as animal feed (photo credit: Neil Palmer/CIAT). ‘Pressures from climate change and population growth are increasing the competition for grains as food or livestock feed in countries like Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda. But sweet potato, which can grow in harsh … Continue reading
Tag Archives: AlertNet
Animal Feeding / Crop residues / Dairying / East Africa / Goats / ILRI / Intensification / Kenya / Pigs / Project / Rwanda / Tanzania
Sweet potato–sweet solution: Food for people, feed for animals
Cassava, potato and sweet potato trials at high altitude in Rwanda (photo credit: ILRI/Albert Mwangi). ‘Pressures from climate change and population growth are increasing the competition for grains as food or livestock feed in countries like Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda. But sweet potato, which can grow in harsh climatic conditions with minimal inputs, can provide … Continue reading
Agriculture / Animal Feeding / Cattle / Climate Change / Forages / Report / Southeast Asia
Improving forage crops in livestock systems shows potential for reducing climate change
Vietnamese farmers with cattle fodder. A report by CIAT says livestock systems that use improved forage crops reduce the effects of climate change (photo credit: ILRI/Werner Stür). Last week, AlertNet published an opinion piece highlighting recent research by the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) on how forage-based systems, which dominate agriculture in the tropics, … Continue reading
Drought / Drylands / East Africa / ILRI / Kenya / Markets / Pastoralism
Meat exports and livestock jobs could transform Kenya’s drought-stricken northern lands
The main road running north to Ethiopia from Samburu land, in northern Kenya (photo on Flickr by meaduva). ‘Livestock could turn Kenya’s drought-stricken northern lands into an engine of job creation, rather than a sinkhole for emergency aid, the minister for the region has said. ‘Almost 4 million Kenyans needed food aid in early 2012 … Continue reading
Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability
Pioneering insurance for remote livestock herders taking hold in drought-prone areas of Kenya and Ethiopia
Sake Dabasso Halake with her recent livestock insurance payout, which was made in northern Kenya’s Marsabit District following the great drought that afflicted the Horn of Africa in the latter half of 2011 (photo credit: Jeff Haskins/Burness Communications). Laurie Goering, a reporter for AlertNet writing from the United Nations climate change meetings in Durban this … Continue reading
Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Project / Vulnerability
Remote Kenya livestock herders receive their first drought insurance payouts
ILRI staff help local livestock herders in Kenya’s Marsabit District understand how they might benefit from a new ‘index-based’ livestock insurance policy scheme, which is providing 650 herders who paid for this insurance with their first payout this month, following the loss of forage due to a drought that hit Marsabit as well as much … Continue reading
Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability
Research for resilience: Helping the Horn’s food producers better absorb climate shocks
Lloyd Le Page (left), chief executive officer of the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers, and Namanga Ngongi, president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, at a news briefing convened by the Consortium at the Nairobi campus of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) on ‘Research options for mitigating drought-induced food crises’ … Continue reading
Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability
‘The food crisis in the Horn is essentially a livestock crisis’–Lloyd Le Page, CEO of the CGIAR
Voice of America’s Cathy Majtenyi interviews CGIAR CEO Lloyd Le Page at the CGIAR News Briefing on ‘Research Options for Mitigating Drought-induced Food Crises,’ 1 Sep 2011 (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan). Katy Migiro summarizes on Alertnet four ways to prevent famine in the Horn of Africa raised by experts meeting at the opening in Kenya … Continue reading
Climate change may force many southern African crop-and-livestock farmers to migrate–ILRI director general Carlos Sere
‘The unsolved puzzle of what to do with people forced from their homes by the effects of climate change—a hot topic a couple of years ago—seems to have slid down the agendas of aid agencies, policy makers and the media. . . . [A] comprehensive international framework for dealing with environmental migrants is still a … Continue reading
Pakistanis risk their lives for their livestock
Displaced people fleeing Sindh streamed into Balochistan (photo credit: Abdul Majeed Goraya/IRIN); by 4 August 2010, Pakistan’s worst flooding in 80 years had affected 3.2 million people. A report last August 2010 from Reuters AlertNet about Pakistan’s struggles to move its flood victims out of danger highlights how important livestock are to Pakistan’s poor. Many … Continue reading
