Andrew Mude, a Kenyan economist at ILRI who leads a multi-centre Index-Based Livestock Insurance project (IBLI) in the Horn of Africa, is this year’s Norman Borlaug Field Award winner (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan).

This has been a good—and relatively big—season for work to support the world’s arid lands and peoples. Drylands tend to be overlooked in agricultural discussions. (That world leaders and climate negotiators are convening this week and next at the COP22 UN climate change summit in Marrakech, an economic and tourist oasis rising amid lemon, orange and olive groves some 15–20 miles away from North Africa’s Atlas Mountains and a day’s drive from the Sahara Desert proper, also can’t be bad for dryland peoples, researchers and ambassadors.)

While making up some 40 per cent of the world’s total land area (excluding the hyperarid ‘true deserts’) and including areas in some of the world’s poorest countries (Africa’s drylands cover 43 per cent of the continent), drylands aren’t talked about much when concerns are raised about the world’s warming climate and the toll this could take on our ability to feed the world’s growing population. With drylands providing much of the world’s grain as well as livestock while suffering increasingly from highly variable rainfall amounts and intensities as well as recurrent and prolonged droughts, this omission is more than ‘passing strange’. For details of when and where livestock issues related to climate change took (near) centre stage this fall, please scroll down to the next section.

To cap off this season’s most public of public communications on dryland issues, this week New York Times editorial writer Tina Rosenberg took a good long look at ILRI’s Index-Based Livestock Insurance scheme being piloted in the Horn of Africa and published her thoughts in an opinion piece, Up in the sky, help to keep Africans from starving (8 Nov 2016).

While grateful that Rosenberg has helped raise awareness of an important neglected topic—food production in water-constrained ecosystems—ILRI and its partners in this pastoral insurance scheme, known by its acronym, ‘IBLI’, are most gratified that this journalist chose to highlight a solution rather than a problem. This is a welcome counter to much Western media coverage of pastoral life in the Horn of Africa and elsewhere, which tends to focus on the fate of the wildlife sharing these lands at the expense of the people, or to recycle worn narratives lamenting either the ‘backwardness’ of herding cultures or the passing of ‘pastoral ways of life’.

The fact is that pastoralism is a robust and enduring food production system. It is very much alive and well in the 21st century. It is able to play major roles in feeding and nourishing a warming world—in providing livelihoods in remote regions and critical ecosystem services—all while making productive and sustainable use of what are typically termed ‘marginal lands’. It is thus a welcome change to see media coverage that focuses on practical solutions for helping dryland peoples to grow ever more resilient and innovative in the face of recurring droughts and other big global changes.

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Here are some excerpts from Rosenberg’s article.

‘Andrew Mude, a Kenyan economist, has a way of explaining satellites.

‘When he’s talking to pastoralists in his country’s north—people who roam the earth with a dozen head of cattle and very little else—he talks about the stars that don’t act like other stars.

‘“They’re actually taking pictures of the ground,” Mude says. Herders, a stargazing people, understand.

Mude has figured out a way those fake stars can help.
‘They can make it easier to assure rural Africans
that they can survive a drought.

‘Wherever land cannot grow crops—it is too cold, too dry, too mountainous—people keep animals. More than 100 million of the world’s poorest live this way.

‘Among the 50 million pastoralists in sub-Saharan Africa, the average income is $2 per day and dropping.

‘. . . Satellites can tell us how much vegetation is on the ground. And we know how to use the density of ground cover to predict whether animals will starve. And that now allows herders to buy pre-emptive health insurance for their animals: At the end of a rainy season, they get a payment in time to buy fodder, water or veterinary services that will keep their cattle alive when a catastrophically bad dry season is foreseen. That’s cheaper and better than life insurance, which pays them after the cattle die.

Insurance that pays out when forage coverage drops—
known as index-based livestock insurance—is an elegant idea.

‘. . . [Andrew] Mude, who earned his doctorate at Cornell, is an economist and principal scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi. Last month, he was awarded the Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application. The award, a major prize in agricultural research, is given by the World Food Prize Foundation and financed by the Rockefeller Foundation.

‘Mude’s program began in one Kenyan county in 2010. Today, about 16,000 families are insured; most are in Kenya, and some are in southern Ethiopia.

‘The insurance works.

‘It is associated with fewer distress sales of livestock, more milk production and household income from milk, better child nutrition and less stress.

‘Compared with Kenya’s standard anti-poverty program, which is based on cash transfers, insurance is much more cost effective to scale up.

‘. . . Commercial insurers sell the livestock insurance. But the government is trying to spread this approach by beginning to shoulder some of the cost of premiums. Kenya expects to cover 80,000 households by 2019 in the Kenya Livestock Insurance Program. But that’s a tiny percentage of households that need it, and the program will cover only five cows per household.

On other problems that still need to be solved

‘What’s [hard] is helping [herders] understand that they should buy an invisible product that is likely to produce no financial benefit—and they should do it season after season. . . .

‘Shariah, or Islamic law, objects to the selling of risk, which can be considered the foundation of insurance. . . . Hassan Bashir, the founder and chief executive of Takaful Group . . . insures against every kind of loss, but livestock insurance is close to Bashir’s heart. . . .

‘“There can be rain in one area and none a kilometer away,” said [Chris] Barrett. “If it’s uncorrelated, it’s a lottery ticket, not an insurance policy. Andrew and I for half a dozen years have had the conversation: how do we make sure we’re selling insurance and not lottery tickets?”

‘Richard Kyuma, coordinator of Kenya’s government program, said . . . “There are areas where some locals are saying you should be paying, but the model is saying ‘no, it’s not the time to pay’. . . . If people are stressed and yet this product is not responding, then we can be in a terrible fix.” . . .

‘If livestock insurance spreads to new regions of the world, each will have to begin from scratch to gather data. . . . “Trying to meet demand for scale without reducing the rigor of careful design—this is a particular challenge for us,” said [Andrew] Mude. . . .’

On benefits already provided

[E]ven a flawed model has created real improvements for policy holders.
“It doesn’t do away with drought risk, but it still works . . .
to keep children better nourished and alive,
to improve the well-being of families.
—Chris Barrett

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The solution, then, would appear to be in our stars, yes—and also in ourselves. Read the whole article by Tina Rosenberg in the New York Times: Up in the sky, help to keep Africans from starving, 8 Nov 2016.

Tina Rosenberg, a journalist and editorial writer for the New York Times, is a Pulitzer-Prize-winning book author (her most recent book is Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World) and co-founder of the Solutions Journalism Network, which supports rigorous reporting about responses to social problems, particularly by supporting journalists doing high-impact ‘solutions reporting’.

About Index-Based Livestock Insurance
Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) is a project developed in partnership by ILRI (Andrew Mude), Cornell University (Chris Barrett) and the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Assets and Market Access (BASIS) at the University of California at Davis (Michael Carter), and involving a whole range of other important stakeholders. The IBLI project has been funded by the World Bank Group, the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the European Union (EU) and the Australian Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). Further information on the wider program agenda is available at https://ibli.ilri.org/

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Where livestock issues took centre stage at major fora this fall

The World Food Prize Foundation honours a Kenyan leader of the
Index-Based Livestock Insurance project with an award
Andrew Mude, a scientist leading an ‘Index-Based Livestock Insurance’ (IBLI) project offering the first drought-related livestock insurance to Africa’s pastoral dryland herders, received this year’s Norman E Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application. The announcement of this award, which is endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation, was made by Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, and celebrated at a special event hosted by Mude’s institute, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), at ILRI’s Nairobi, Kenya, headquarters, on 30 Aug 2016. The award itself was bestowed on Mude some six weeks later, at a ceremony held on 12 Oct 2016 in Des Moines, Iowa, during this year’s annual Borlaug Dialogue and International Symposium and 30th anniversary of Norman Borlaug’s establishment of the World Food Prize.

USAID-BIFAD honours three leaders of the
Index-Based Livestock Insurance project with an award
The same day (12 Oct 2016) and venue, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) gave its 2016 Award for Scientific Excellence to Chris Barrett, the Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University; Andrew Mude, PhD 2006, principal economist at ILRI; and Michael Carter, professor of agricultural and resource economics at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis).

The UN Committee on World Food Security highlights
the central role of livestock in global food and nutrition security
A week later, at the 43rd session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS43), held at the Rome headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organzation of the United Nations (FAO), 17–21 Oct 2016, agreement was reached regarding a High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition Report on Sustainable Agricultural Development for Food Security and Nutrition: What Roles for Livestock? and a set of recommendations building on the report and a related policy convergence process was endorsed. (The recommendations are listed in an ILRI News blog article here.) Delia Grace, an ILRI scientist and program leader, served as a member of the High-Level Panel of Experts that produced the livestock report that was finalized and agreed at the Rome CFS43 meeting and other ILRI researchers made other substantive contributions.This CFS43 session was attended by delegates from 116 member states and 8 non-member states of the United Nations committee plus representatives from 10 UN agencies and bodies, 123 civil society organizations, 2 international agricultural research organizations (ILRI was one of these), 2 international and regional financial institutions, 86 private-sector associations and private philanthropic foundations (including 831 companies under the umbrella of the Private Sector Mechanism [PSM]), and 45 observers, all of whom were given opportunities to express their views on the report (ILRI’s remarks are here.)

This year’s UN climate change summit in Marrakech
includes livestock emissions in its discussions
Livestock greenhouse gas emissions and related topics are at long last being included in UN climate change discussions. The 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22) of theUN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 12th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 12) , and the 1st session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1)—which was adopted in late 2015 and marks a turning point in work to build a zero-carbon world and went into effect on 4 Nov 2016—is  taking place in Marrakech, Morocco, this week and next (7–18 Nov 2016). At this week’s opening, on 8 Nov 2016, ILRI and partner organizations facilitated a science-policy dialogue on monitoring, reporting, and verification work to detect mitigation impacts in livestock production systems. Country experiences were shared to identify practical innovations for the collection and coordination of activity data and improved emission factors. This special side event was co-moderated by ILRI Livestock Systems and Environment program leader Polly Ericksen and by Lini Wollenberg, of the University of Vermont and the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). (More news of that session will be published on this blog at a later date.)

The New York Times covers the story of
Index-Based Livestock Insurance
New York Times editorial writer Tina Rosenberg took a good long look at ILRI’s Index-Based Livestock Insurance scheme in a New York Times opinion piece, Up in the sky, help to keep Africans from starving, published 8 Nov 2016.

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More selected IBLI | Mude | Borlaug Field Award
news clippings in 2016

Kenyan Bags 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research, Application at World Food Prize Event
africasciencenews.org | Eric Akasa | 10/12/2016
The accolade, named to honor the legendary crop scientist and Nobel Prize Winner, was presented to Mude by Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin at a special ceremony that included hundreds of agriculture experts from around the world attending the 2016 World Food Prize symposium in Iowa.

USAID BIFAD 2016 Award for Scientific Excellence goes to Cornell–ILRI–UC Davis team for developing novel livestock insurance for pastoral herders in East Africa
clippings.ilri.org | Susan MacMillan | 10/06/2016
‘A Cornell development economist and his partners won an international award for developing a form of livestock insurance that has already proved itself in pilot testing. Now that it is scaling up, the insurance could help hundreds of thousands of African herders stave off poverty in times of drought.

Economist, partners clinch USAID award for drought insurance
http://www.news.cornell.edu | Susan Kelley | 10/05/2016
A Cornell development economist and his partners won an international award for developing a form of livestock insurance that has already proved itself in pilot testing.

The journal ‘Science’ publishes Q&A with Borlaug Field Award winner Andrew Mude
clippings.ilri.org | Susan MacMillan | 09/05/2016
‘Andrew Mude, a senior economist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), created a program that protects pastoralists against losses from drought, an increasing scourge for nomadic communities in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia.

Kenyan wins Rockerfeller award for work in dry areas
http://www.busiweek.com | Samuel Nabwiiso | 09/04/2016
Dr. Andrew Mude was last week declared the winner of the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.

Q&A: Livestock insurance helps African herders survive droughts
http://www.sciencemag.org | Sophie Mbugua | 09/02/2016
A Kenyan economist has won the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award from the World Food Prize for an innovative program that provides pastoralists with livestock insurance.

Food prize puts Kenyan researcher on global map—Kenya’s ‘Business Daily’ newspaper
clippings.ilri.org | Susan MacMillan | 09/02/2016
‘When he was named winner of the 2016 World Food Prize’s Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application this week, he could barely hold back his emotions, as the reality of his achievement hit home.

Kenyan scientist wins world top prize for food research
http://www.the-star.co.ke | Agatha Ngotho | 09/01/2016
A Kenyan scientist was yesterday awarded a world prize for food research. Dr Andrew Mude (pictured) was announced the winner of the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application at the International Livestock Research Institute headquarters, Nairobi. He will receive Sh1 million next month during the World Food Prize international symposium in Iowa

Breaking the devastating impacts of drought in the Horn of Africa—Kenyan wins global agricultural research award
clippings.ilri.org | Susan MacMillan | 08/31/2016
”I am confident that with insurance and the related complementary services, the boom and bust cycle will come to an end,” said Mude, principal economist at the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research.

Kenya close to ending drought crises, says local scientist award winner
sde.co.ke Standard Digital | 08/31/2016
Kenya is on its way to breaking the devastating cycle of drought, poverty and hunger over the next decade, a leading scientist said as he was named winner of a prestigious award. Kenyan scientist Andrew Mude won the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application on Tuesday for developing livestock insurance . . . .

Kenyan Adjudged Winner of 2016 Norman Borlaug Award
http://www.newsghana.com.gh | Samuel Hinneh | 08/31/2016
Dr Andrew Mude developed insurance for never-before-insured communities whose livelihoods depend on herding cattle, goats, sheep and camels in the remote, arid and drought-prone lowlands of the Horn of Africa.

Kenyan economist Andrew Mude wins the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application
news.ilri.org | Susan MacMillan | 08/31/2016
It was announced yesterday (30 Aug 2016) in Nairobi, Kenya, that Andrew Mude has won the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application. Mude’s is developing insurance for never-before-insured communities whose livelihoods depend on herding cattle, goats, sheep and camels in the remote, arid and drought-prone lowlands of the Horn of Africa.

Kenyan Scientist Receives the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award- Crop Biotech Update ( 8/31/2016 )
http://www.isaaa.org | 08/31/2016
Dr. Andrew Mude, a young Kenyan scientist, is the winner of the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation. The award recognizes exceptional, science-based achievement in agriculture and food production by individuals under 40 who demonstrate intellectual courage, stamina, and determination in the fight to eliminate global hunger.

Kenyan wins global award for livestock innovation (video)
ntv.nation.co.ke | 08/31/2016
Video news clip

Pastoralists received Sh15M compensation following last year’s drought – CS
http://www.hivisasa.com — Garissa News | Joshua Khisa | 08/31/2016
Close to 12,000 households in the arid and semi-arid areas across the country have insured their livestock.  Those who insured their livestock are already enjoying the benefits of the product as according to Cabinet Secretary Judi Wakhungu, 5,012 pastoralists who insured their animals last year received Sh15 million compensation after their region suffered drought leading…

Kenyan Researcher Receives Named 2016 Borlaug Field Award Winner
http://www.agrimarketing.com | 08/31/2016
Dr. Andrew Mude was announced today as the winner of the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, Endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation, for his work in developing insurance for never-before-insured communities whose livelihoods depend on herding cattle, goats, sheep and camels in the remote, arid and drought-prone lowlands of the Horn…

Kenyan scientist Dr. Andrew Mude wins the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research—Potentash
http://www.potentash.com | Susan Mukami | 08/31/2016
In most parts of the Horn of Africa, drought, crop and livestock disease threaten food production; and the fact that livestock provides an essential source of protein and is an irreplaceable income to almost 1 billion poor people, more needs to be done to protect this precious resource.

Speeches | Nairobi, Kenya – Embassy of the United States
nairobi.usembassy.gov | Robert Godec | 08/30/2016
Thank you for inviting me here today. It’s always rewarding to spend time talking with and learning from researchers who are passionate about their disciplines.

Kenya close to ending drought crises, says local scientist award winner
http://www.reuters.com | Katy Migiro | 08/30/2016

How NASA satellites save Kenya’s nomads from bankruptcy during drought (seriously)
http://www.jinamoore.com | Jina Moore | 08/30/2016
Brenda Wandera’s iPhone buzzes in her lap. A text message has made its way through the blurry heat of Kenya’s Chalbi Desert, and it changes her next move. “As soon as we get to Kalacha, we have to go to Network,” she says.

Kenya to extend livestock insurance to 14 counties
http://www.nation.co.ke | James Kariuki | 08/30/2016
The government will roll out a livestock insurance to all fourteen arid and semi-arid counties to help safeguard cattle during drought. Cabinet Secretary Judi Wakhungu said the uptake of the product had hit 11,800 households with an insured premium of Sh 5.3 billion since the beginning of the year.

Kenya close to ending drought – scientist
citizentv.co.ke | 08/30/2016
Kenya is on its way to breaking the devastating cycle of drought, poverty and hunger over the next decade, a leading scientist said as he was named winner of a prestigious award.

Kenya to extend livestock insurance to 14 counties
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com | James Kariuki | 08/30/2016
The government will roll out livestock insurance to all 14 arid and semi-arid counties to help safeguard cattle during drought.

Kenyan economist wins World Food Prize’s Borlaug award
http://www.desmoinesregister.com | Kelly McGowan | 08/30/2016
Andrew Mude, a researcher and economist dealing in international livestock, was named winner of the World Food Prize’s Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application.

Kenya close to ending drought crises, says local scientist award winner
uk.businessinsider.com | Katy Migiro | 08/30/2016
A Kenyan soldier from the Rapid Deployment Unit looks at a cow which is dying from hunger, a few hundred meters from the official boundary of the Kenya-Ethiopia border in northwestern Kenya

The World Food Prize Recognizes Kenyan Economist as Winner of the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, Endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation
http://www.worldfoodprize.org | Nicole Barreca | 08/30/2016
08/30/2016 Press Contact: Nicole Barreca, Director of Communications and Events nbarreca@worldfoodprize.org
The World Food Prize Recognizes Kenyan Economist as Winner of the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application….

Andrew Mude: 2016 recipient of the Borlaug Field Award
http://www.worldfoodprize.org | 08/30/2016
Andrew Mude, a senior economist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya, was named the 2016 recipient of the “Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, Endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation.”  The announcement of his selection was made by Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, President of the World Food Prize Foundation.

Kenyan Wins 2016 Norman Borlaug Award For Field Research And Application
http://www.modernghana.com | Samuel Hinneh | 08/30/2016
A Kenyan research scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute based in Nairobi has won the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application for his work in providing insurance to livestock herders in East Africa’s drylands through innovative, state-of-the art technologies.

African livestock and agriculture departments promote new Kenya Livestock Insurance Programme (KLIP)
clippings.ilri.org | Susan MacMillan | 06/13/2016
Vincent Ngari and Richard Githaiga of the Departments of Livestock and Agriculture, while making presentations during the Technical Workshop on Agriculture Index Insurance at the College of Insurance, Nairobi, on Friday, advised farmers to take up the new Kenya Livestock Insurance…

Insurance helps Kenyan livestock herders cope with drought
clippings.ilri.org | Susan MacMillan | 04/15/2016
‘The index-based insurance program is run by the Kenya-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and funded by the British, U.S. and Australian governments and the European Union. The donors subsidize the cover to make it affordable for pastoralists.

Subsidised insurance bolsters Kenyan herders against drought
news.trust.org | Anthony Langat | 04/13/2016
At 7am, the Kubi-Qallo borehole near Goro Rukesa village in northern Kenya is already a hive of activity, as dozens of herders line up for their animals’ turn to drink at the watering trough.

Kenyan Farmers to Benefit from Innovative Insurance Program
http://www.worldbank.org | World Bank press release | 03/12/2016
The Government of Kenya today launched the Kenya National Agricultural Insurance Program, which is designed to address the challenges that agricultural producers face when there are large production shocks, such as droughts and floods.

Bringing insurance innovation to the pastoral areas of southern Ethiopia (ILRI 7.5-min video)
http://www.youtube.com | International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) | 01/05/2016
In the Borana region of Southern Ethiopia, drought has always been the greatest hazard faced by livestock herding families, but climate change and the increased frequency and intensity of drought are straining the viability of traditional coping methods.