Cow bell from Kenya, on loan from Gary K Clarke, Cowabunga Safaris (photo by Topeka & Shawness County Public Library on Flickr). This week, as the New York Times reports below, the United Nations officially declared that, for only the second time in history, a disease has been wiped off the face of the earth. The … Continue reading
During the last four decades a number of animal-nutrition-based technologies and practices have been developed and used in developing countries, with varying degrees of success. Some technologies have produced profound beneficial effects and have been widely used; while others have shown potential on research stations but have not been taken up by farmers. To learn … Continue reading
The pathogenesis of Rift Valley fever. Viruses 2011, 3(5), 493-519; doi:10.3390/v3050493 (image credit: A J Cann’s Flickr photostream). Kenya’s Business Daily newspaper reports that Kenya is forging a new pact in an old war against the deadly mosquito-transmitted ‘zoonotic’—human plus livestock—disease called Rift Valley fever. ‘Kenya has partnered with neighbouring stats to boost surveillance on Rift Valley … Continue reading
ILRI scientist Polly Ericksen says that areas that will be hit hardest by climate change are areas where farmers are already struggling due to new weather patterns (image credit: ILRI/Anita Ghosh). Julio Godoy reported yesterday in Inter Press Service Africa (IPS) on the climate change meeting in Bonn, saying that climate change is putting African … Continue reading
The New Agriculturist reports today that ‘As the Middle East increases livestock imports from Africa, officials are meeting in Dubai to develop a strategy to prevent the spread of Rift Valley fever, without banning livestock imports from the Horn of Africa. . . . ‘To guide their responses to the disease, officials from the Middle … Continue reading
In Egypt, rising food prices have caused panic and hunger: Girl with koshary, Egypt’s national dish, consisting of rice, lentils, chickpeas and macaroni topped with salsa or, for the lucky few with more money, meat (photo credit: James Buck’s Flickr photostream). In the months of October and November 2010, Ellen Geerlings, then working for the United … Continue reading
Coastweek and Xinhua have published accounts of a new East African dryland food production initiative. The initiative will work towards securing the agro-pastoral livelihoods of poor livestock keepers in the region. ‘Scientists have launched a new initiative to help boost smallholder farmers’ resilience to drought in the Horn of Africa’s drylands. ‘The new initiative supported by … Continue reading
The 2006 publication of Livestock’s Long Shadow by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has stirred considerable controversy. Here is the latest rebuttal, showing the fallacy of treating all the world’s animal production as the same kind of ‘beast’. ‘How long is your shadow? The answer, of course, depends, and differs whether you are standing … Continue reading
Expectations were high when the United Nations General Assembly declared 2011 as “International Year of Forest,” having in mind the social, economic and cultural roles that the forests play in communities around the world in the context of global warming, climate change and agricultural development. As such, it was with strong determination that members of … Continue reading
Village food seller in Nigeria (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). From the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) comes this news. ‘Investing in closing the gender gap in agriculture could bring the number of undernourished people in the world down by 100-150 million people. This is one of the conclusions of the State of Food and … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 