Tag Archives: Guardian’s Poverty Matters Blog

A4NH / Animal Diseases / Article / Bangladesh / Bird flu / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / Film and video / ILRI / Kenya / Nigeria / Uganda / Zoonotic Diseases

Draconian bans on urban livestock in developing countries ‘not the answer’–Guardian on ILRI report

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Customers at a milk bar in Ndumbuini in Kabete, Nairobi  (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu). Mark Tran in the Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog warns us this week not to keep chickens under our beds. On the other hand, he infers, chicken bought on the street in poor countries may be safer to eat than that from … Continue reading →

A4NH / Africa / Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / Emerging Diseases / Environment / Epidemiology / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / Opinion piece / RVF / Zoonotic Diseases

Animal-to-human diseases spreading with environmental changes–ILRI’s Delia Grace in The Guardian

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Villagers watch on as a team restrains a small pig for blood sampling in Luang Prabang, Laos (photo credit: ILRI/Kate Blaszak). Delia Grace, an Irish veterinary epidemiologist and public health expert at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), says shifts in forest cover, agricultural practices, mining and reservoirs are thought to be affecting the transmission … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Food Security / Pastoralism / Vulnerability / West Africa

Extreme hunger in East Africa and the Sahel: Building response systems that work

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Arid soils in Mauritania, where crops have failed because of a severe drought and the Sahel region faces a major food crisis: Over 700,000 people are affected in Mauritania and 12 million across West Africa (picture credit: Pablo Tosco/Oxfam International). Senegalese singer Baaba Maal has visited Mauritanian communities at the center of the current food crisis … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Food Security / Mali / Niger / Opinion piece / Pastoralism / Vulnerability / West Africa

Flawed global food systems–not drought–cause of African famines

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Foods of Khulungira Village, in central Malawi (clockwise from top left): nsima (maize meal porridge), kachewere wophika (boiled potatoes), nkhuku yophika (chicken stew), nkhwani ndi phwetekere (pumpkin leaves with tomato), kachewere wokazinga (fried potatoes), and kholowa ndi phwetekere (sweetpotato leaves with tomato) (photo credit: CGIAR/Stevie Mann). All names in Chichewa, Malawi’s national language; translations by Christopher … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Event / Food Security / Geodata / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Unusual project cushions drought impacts on poor livestock herders in drought-ravaged Horn

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Some people in Kenya’s Marsabit District who in recent months lost up to a third of their cattle and other livestock to a great drought in the Horn of Africa received insurance payments last week; this man awaits his payout following a village meeting in Dirib Gombo, where it began to rain just two weeks … Continue reading →

Agriculture / CGIAR / Food Security / Research

Greater coherence among agricultural research bodies to be urged at Montpellier G20 meeting

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An opinion piece by Mark Tran in the Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog yesterday (12 Sep 2011) argues that the G20 faces obstacles in its efforts to spread good farming practices, and that a lack of coherence among agricultural research bodies is a major obstacle. ‘Spreading good ideas and practices in farming sounds like a simple enough … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability

‘It’s not drought, but vulnerability to drought, that’s eroding food security in the Horn’–USAID’s Jeff Hill

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Jeff Hill, Director of Policy at the Bureau of Food Security, at the United State Agency for International Development (USAID), speaks at a news briefing on ‘Research Options for Mitigating Drought-induced Food Crises,’ 1 Sep 2011 (photo credit: ILRI/Samuel Mungai). Mark Tran reports in the Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog on yesterday’s meeting of experts on … Continue reading →

CCAFS / Climate Change / Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / Somalia / Vulnerability

Is famine in the Horn of Africa linked to climate change or not?

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Duncan Green, director of research at Oxfam GB, in the Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog today, argues that whether or not the more frequent droughts occurring in the Horn of Africa are due to human-enhanced ‘climate change’, and whether or not this region is likely to get wetter or drier in future (neither of which we can … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Nutrition / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / Vulnerability

Does Africa’s modernizing Horn no longer have room for 20 million drought-adapted livestock herders?

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Letting the herd down to water at the Omo River at Kangate, in southern Ethiopia (photo on Flickr by Carsten ten Brink). Helen de Jode, editor of Modern and Mobile: The Future of Livestock Production in Africa’s Drylands, argues in the Guardian last week that ‘underneath the high visibility famine in the Horn of Africa lies … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Food Security / Markets / Trade

G20 agriculture ministers meet this week: Must invest in food markets to bolster food security–Guardian

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Workers unload milk cans at a commercial dairy plant in Dimapur, Nagaland, India (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). A blog in the Guardian this week argues for the G20 agriculture ministers meeting this week to support ‘new investment in farming and vibrant, transparent markets to address food security.’ ‘As the G20 agriculture ministers prepare to meet for the … Continue reading →