Category Archives: Kenya

Largest-ever micro-insurance payout made to Ethiopian pastoralists
Africa / Agriculture / CCAFS / Climate Change / CRPs / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event Report / IBLI / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / SLS / Story Type

Largest-ever micro-insurance payout made to Ethiopian pastoralists

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More than 2,250 pastoralists received insurance payouts following the extremely poor rains this year in southern Ethiopia. Low levels of rainfall have led to the loss of approximately 300,000 livestock in 2017 in the Borana zone of the southern Oromia region. The insurance payouts of more than ETB5.233 million (USD220,000) was the largest-ever micro-insurance indemnity made in Ethiopia. Each insured pastoralist received an average of ETB2,255 (USD96), which will allow the herders to purchase feeds for their surviving animals and to restock their herds. Continue reading →

Livestock-wildlife trade-offs for pastoral livelihoods in the conservancies of the Masai Mara
Biodiversity / Climate Change / East Africa / Environment / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Resilience / Science paper / SLS / Spotlight / Wildlife

Livestock-wildlife trade-offs for pastoral livelihoods in the conservancies of the Masai Mara

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A new research paper, Trade-offs for climate-resilient pastoral livelihoods in wildlife conservancies in the Mara ecosystem, Kenya, was recently published in Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice, May 2017. The paper is co-authored by Claire Bedelian, of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Overseas Development Institute (ODI), and University College London (UCL), and Joseph Ogutu, of ILRI and the University of Hohenheim. Continue reading →

ILRI’s Index-Based Livestock Insurance and Takaful Insurance of Africa win ‘2017 Insurance Innovation Award’
Award / Drought / East Africa / IBLI / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / SLS / Spotlight

ILRI’s Index-Based Livestock Insurance and Takaful Insurance of Africa win ‘2017 Insurance Innovation Award’

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ILRI’s Index Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) program and Takaful Insurance of Africa are this year’s winners of the prestigious Insurance Innovations Award 2017. The announcement was made at the African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re)’s Insurance Awards gala dinner held on Monday 22 May 2017, at the Serena Kigo Hotel, in Kampala, Uganda. Continue reading →

Brachiaria grass can help Kenya’s dryland food producers improve their soils and yields under a changing climate
Agriculture / Animal Feeding / BecA / Crop-Livestock / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Feeds / Forages / ILRI / Kenya / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Science paper / Soils / Spotlight

Brachiaria grass can help Kenya’s dryland food producers improve their soils and yields under a changing climate

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Results of a recent study by the Biosciences eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute Hub (BecA-ILRI Hub) and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), both based in Nairobi, indicate that the many people farming in Kenya’s semi-arid regions would profit in many ways from planting drought-tolerant Brachiaria grass. Continue reading →

New Nutrition Knowledge Bank gives direct access to expert nutritional advice via mobile phones
A4NH / Africa / Agri-Health / Agriculture / AHH / Asia / Bangladesh / CapDev / Communications / Gender / Ghana / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / Malawi / Mozambique / Nigeria / Nutrition / Project / Spotlight / Tanzania / Uganda / Zambia

New Nutrition Knowledge Bank gives direct access to expert nutritional advice via mobile phones

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A new open-access Nutrition Knowledge Bank has been created as part of a GSMA mNutrition initiative to help tackle malnutrition in Africa and Asia. This collection of content on good nutritional practices includes factsheets and mobile messages for anyone to download and use. Funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the mNutrition project aims to deliver nutrition information to 3 million people in 12 developing countries. Continue reading →

CGIAR livestock support is enhancing community resilience in the face of on-going drought in the Horn of Africa
CGIAR / Climate Change / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / LIVESTOCKCRP / Pastoralism / PIL / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / Rangelands / Resilience / SLS / Somalia / South Sudan / Spotlight / Sudan / Trade / Vulnerability

CGIAR livestock support is enhancing community resilience in the face of on-going drought in the Horn of Africa

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Widespread drought conditions in the Horn of Africa have intensified since the failure of the Oct–Dec 2016 rains. Areas of greatest concern cover much of Somalia, northeast and coastal Kenya, southeast Ethiopia and the Afar region, and South Sudan, which faces a serious food crisis due to protracted insecurity. One focus of the East African-headquartered International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is to help developing-country livestock communities enhance their resilience in the face of recurring droughts. ILRI belongs to CGIAR—a global research partnership of 15 centres and their partners working yo reduce poverty, enhance food and nutrition security and improve natural resources and ecosystem services. Continue reading →

Record payouts being made by Kenya Government and insurers to protect herders facing historic drought
Camels / Cattle / CCAFS / Climate Change / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Event Report / Goats / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Launch / Pastoralism / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Resilience / Scaling / Sheep / SLS / Small Ruminants / Spotlight / Vulnerability / Water

Record payouts being made by Kenya Government and insurers to protect herders facing historic drought

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More than Ksh214 million is on tap for 12,000 pastoral households in six counties of northern Kenya through innovative policies that use satellite imagery to trigger payments for feed, veterinary supplies and water. Continue reading →

What stops greater consumption of meat, milk and eggs in low-income areas of Nairobi? Price, mostly
A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Consumption / East Africa / FSZ / ILRI / Kenya / Nutrition / Policy / Spotlight

What stops greater consumption of meat, milk and eggs in low-income areas of Nairobi? Price, mostly

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A new research paper by scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and partner organizations confirms that milk, meat and eggs are widely consumed by poor people in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi: these animal-source goods make up nearly 40% of the food budget and half of this is spent on dairy products. Economic analysis revealed a high propensity to consume animal-source foods and elasticities showed that, if their prices could be lowered, consumption of animal-source foods would rocket, benefiting both the nutritional status of poor consumers and the livelihoods of small-scale livestock producers. Continue reading →

Fragmentation of the Athi-Kaputiei plains, outside Nairobi, has caused rapid declines in both pastoralism and wildlife
Article / Biodiversity / East Africa / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Policy / Rangelands / Spotlight / Wildlife

Fragmentation of the Athi-Kaputiei plains, outside Nairobi, has caused rapid declines in both pastoralism and wildlife

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A new paper on the consequences of land fragmentation and fencing on rangelands outside Nairobi, Kenya, formerly rich with wildlife and critical for the functioning of Nairobi’s famed national park, has been published. All of the authors are former staff, and one former partner, of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), where this research work was conducted. Continue reading →

On selling insurance (not lottery tickets) to Africa’s struggling (stargazing) livestock herders–New York Times
Article / CCAFS / Climate Change / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Livelihoods / LIVESTOCKFISH / Opinion Piece / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Resilience / SLS / Spotlight / Vulnerability

On selling insurance (not lottery tickets) to Africa’s struggling (stargazing) livestock herders–New York Times

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Insurance that pays out when forage coverage drops—known as index-based livestock insurance—is an elegant idea. Andrew Mude, an economist and principal scientist at ILRI, last month 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. Tina Rosenberg covers the story in the New York Times. Continue reading →