Tag Archives: IRIN

A4NH / Agri-Health / Animal Feeding / Animal Health / Animal Products / BecA / Burkina Faso / CGIAR / Dairying / Disease Control / Epidemiology / Film and video / Food Safety / FSZ / Ghana / Human Health / ILRI / ILRIComms / Kenya / Launch / Mali / Nigeria / Project / Senegal / Tanzania

Aflatoxins: New briefs disclose the threat to people and livestock and what research is doing about it

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A damaged maize cob that, if harvested with clean cobs, can contaminate all the cobs with aflatoxins (photo credit: Joseph Atehnkeng/IITA). ‘The UN World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that billions of people in the developing world are chronically exposed to aflatoxin, a natural poison on food crops which causes cancer, impairs the immune system, inhibits … Continue reading →

Animal Feeding / CGIAR / East Africa / ILRI / ILRIComms / LIVESTOCKFISH / South America

Secrets of Brachiaria: An African pasture grass holds enormous promise for reducing greenhouse gases

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Brachiaria trials at CIAT’s headquarters in Colombia. This improved forage grass has been shown to inhibit nitrification, helping to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture (photo credit: CIAT/Neil Palmer). ‘Much has been written about why eating more red meat could be bad for your health while also harming the environment. But new studies to … Continue reading →

Cattle / Forages / Goats / ILRIComms / India / Intensification / Pro-Poor Livestock / South Asia / Vulnerability

Nepal’s livestock sector: In demand and in decline?

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Livestock fodder on road between Chitwan District and Pokhara, Nepal. An ILRI-CSISA (Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia) project on the Indo-Gangetic Plains of Chitwan District, in south-central Nepal, began in Sep 2010. Project staff are introducing residue-based feeding strategies supplemented with green fodder and concentrates to increase cattle and buffalo milk production (photo credit: ILRI/Susan … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Article / Climate Change / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Livelihoods / Livestock / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Making visible the ‘invisible benefits’ of African pastoralism will spur national and pastoral economies both

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Pastoral areas of Africa are experiencing a booming livestock export trade and inflow of investment that can be harnessed to grow national economies (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). A comprehensive economic evaluation of pastoral livestock’s often invisible livelihood benefits in Africa’s drylands could be key in maintaining and harnessing the increasing economic benefits for poor herders … Continue reading →

Biodiversity / Drylands / East Africa / Environment / Ethiopia / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Tanzania / Vulnerability / Wildlife

‘Green land grabs’: Livestock herders access to rangelands is being lost for conservation purposes

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Serengeti tree (photo credit: Jeff Haskins). ‘In the great plains of northern Tanzania, close to the world-famous Serengeti National Park, a bitter row has broken out over an attempt to designate 1,500sqkm of Loliondo District as a game-controlled area. ‘The Maasai herdsmen in the area say their cattle cannot survive without access to traditional dry-season … Continue reading →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / ILRI / Project / Report / Zoonotic Diseases

New findings of human-animal disease burden carried by world’s poor–IRIN and Reuters

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This transmission electron micrograph (TEM) depicted a number of Nipah virus virions that had been isolated from a patient’s cerebrospinal fluid. Nipah virus, related but not identical to Hendra virus, was initially isolated in 1999 upon examining samples from an outbreak of encephalitis and respiratory illness among adult men in Malaysia and Singapore (image credit: Microbe … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / Event / Food Security / Mali / Niger / Pastoralism / Vulnerability / West Africa

Recurrent drought can encourage, not kill, pastoralism

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Pastoralists take their livestock to sell at a market in Moussoro, Bahr El Ghazal Province, in northern Chad. In 2012 countries across the Sahel region are once again facing a serious food crisis. This ecologically fragile region is becoming increasingly vulnerable to insufficient rainfall, and fluctuating animal and food prices that are affecting millions of pastoral … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Article / Climate Change / Drylands / East Africa / Kenya / Livelihoods / Pastoralism / Vulnerability / Women

Women playing key role in pastoralist livelihood diversification

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Maasai women in Kenya. Women are playing a key role in pastoralists’ diversification (picture credit: Konrad Glogowski on Flickr).  A feature story carried by IRIN this week highlights how women are playing an increasingly important role in pastoralist livelihoods diversification in Kenya. ‘Along a small seasonal stream in Ewaso Nyiro village in Narok, southwestern Kenya, Leleseina … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability

Climatic conditions linked to Horn’s 2011 drought persist–could spell another food crisis

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Somali dust storm (image on Flickr by Frank Keillor). ‘The climatic conditions linked to the drought in the Horn in 2011 have persisted, and some early warning officials say the aid community should brace themselves for a possible re-run of last year’s food crisis. . . . ‘According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / Food Security / ILRI / Impact Assessment / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Drought responses–New briefing paper on lessons still to learn

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‘Maasai herding’, painting by Kahare Miano (photo credit: ILRI/Dave Elsworth). A new 19-page briefing paper provides a synthesis of key lessons learnt from evaluations of relief and recovery responses to past slow-onset disasters—particularly drought, and food and livelihoods insecurity. The paper is intended for people working in relief and recovery operations for slow-onset disasters—those who … Continue reading →