A farm in Bangladesh with just enough room for one cow, which, adequately fed and cared for, efficiently produces enough milk for household consumption and manure for maintaining a small garden plot and fish pond (photo on Flickr by WorldFish). ‘Farmers could earn more and protect the environment by using technologies and practices that reduce … Continue reading
Typical smallholder’s farm in Busia, in western Kenya, where farmers mix crop growing with livestock raising (photo credit: ILRI/Pye-Smith). A team of scientists is collecting information on the level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by smallholder farmers. Scientists from CGIAR centres under the Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) said the project’s key … Continue reading
A failed maize crop in Ghana. A report by CCAFS is advising Africa’s farmers and policymakers to adapt to climate shifts now to ensure communities are protected from climate change devastations (photo credit: Neil Palmer/CIAT). The many adverse impacts of climate change on agriculture—from increasing droughts and floods, to more unpredictable and extreme weather patterns, … Continue reading
Dairy farmers in Tanzania. Farmers in East Africa are embracing climate-resilient farming practices but food insecurity prevents many of them from doing more to cope with a changing climate (photo credit: ILRI/Nils Teufel). Smallholder farmers across East Africa have started embracing climate-resilient farming approaches and technologies according to new research recently published by the CGIAR … 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
This Research Report by Jeannette van de Steeg, Mario Herrero, James Kinyangi, Philip Thornton, K.P.C. Rao, Roger Stern, and Peter Cooper on The influence of current and future climate-induced risk on the agricultural sector in East and Central Africa: Sensitizing the ASARECA strategic plan to climate change was released on 23 December, 2009. Rainfed agriculture … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 