Category Archives: Food Security

No longer business as usual: Improved feeds transforming dairying in Zimbabwe
Animal Feeding / Animal Production / Article / ASSP / Cattle / Dairying / DRYLANDSCRP / Fodder / Food Security / ILRI / Intensification / Livelihoods / Livestock / Project / Southern Africa / Women / Zimbabwe

No longer business as usual: Improved feeds transforming dairying in Zimbabwe

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Farmers participating in the Zimbabwe Crop-Livestock Integration for Food Security (ZimCLIFS) project have increased their gross margins by up to 70%. The ongoing food security improvement project is targeting the country’s dairy farmers to help improve feed farming and overall dairy production. Continue reading →

What’s driving Ethiopia’s fast development? Millions of smallholder farmers, of course
Agriculture / Animal Production / Article / ASSP / Directorate / Ethiopia / Food Security / Livestock / Policy

What’s driving Ethiopia’s fast development? Millions of smallholder farmers, of course

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Industrialization is key to economic development, and agriculture—supplying raw materials for processing and value addition—is an essential component of that process. Comprising more than 40% of national GDP and producing the overwhelming majority of the Ethiopia’s food, smallholder farmers are at the centre of the country’s recent economic success. So declared the director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Jimmy Smith, in an agriculture panel discussion, this week, organized by the Economist magazine and held at the Sheraton Hotel in Addis Ababa. Continue reading →

The sharp divide: Do we need animals to feed this world?
A4NH / Animal Products / Directorate / Food Security / FSZ / ILRI / Livestock

The sharp divide: Do we need animals to feed this world?

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Livestock, the fastest-growing, highest-value and a highly controversial agriculture sector, is at a crossroads. Following a new set of 17 sustainable development goals, the current and potential roles of livestock systems in food and nutrition security and other aspects of sustainable development, including the environment, human health and livelihoods, continue to be debated. Opinions are sharply divided in the industrialized world between those who consider animals to be more part of the solution and those who consider them to be more part of the problem. Continue reading →

Mixing it up—The information ‘black hole’ on crop+animal recipes for climate-smart and climate-resilient farms
Africa / Agriculture / Article / CCAFS / Climate Change / Crop-Livestock / Farming Systems / Food Security / ILRI / Opinion Piece / Pro-Poor Livestock / Research / SLS / Spotlight / Vulnerability

Mixing it up—The information ‘black hole’ on crop+animal recipes for climate-smart and climate-resilient farms

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We are unaware of any comprehensive studies undertaken in sub-Saharan Africa to explore how mixed farms will be affected by climate change and the cost and benefits of different adaptation options. Underestimating the importance of livestock in the mixed’ smallholder farming systems that are ubiquitous across the developing world weakens both emissions reduction and climate change adaptation efforts. Continue reading →

Livestock at Expo Milano 2015: Three initiatives for a more sustainable and equitable sector put their heads together
Animal Production / Climate Change / Directorate / Event Report / Food Security / ILRI / Livestock Systems / Spotlight

Livestock at Expo Milano 2015: Three initiatives for a more sustainable and equitable sector put their heads together

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What follows are the key findings and conclusions of the workshop above, which was co-organized by the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture, (FOAG), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Continue reading →

The rise of antimicrobial resistance (lethal) and animal agriculture (critical): Their links in developing countries
A4NH / Agri-Health / AMR / Article / Emerging Diseases / Food Security / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / Policy

The rise of antimicrobial resistance (lethal) and animal agriculture (critical): Their links in developing countries

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This Jun 2015, Evidence on Demand, an international development information hub supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), published a 44-page paper identifying key evidence gaps in our knowledge of livestock- and fisheries-linked antimicrobial resistance in the developing world and documenting on-going and planned research on this topic by key stakeholders.The paper, written by veterinary epidemiologist and food safety expert Delia Grace, of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), is titled: Review of evidence on antimicrobial resistance and animal agriculture in developing countries. Continue reading →

Small producers are big opportunities for a healthy, safe and sustainable global livestock sector
Directorate / Food Security / ILRI / Intensification / Livelihoods / Presentation / Pro-Poor Livestock / Spotlight

Small producers are big opportunities for a healthy, safe and sustainable global livestock sector

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Jimmy Smith, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), gave a keynote presentation at the International Federation for Animal Health–Europe conference Healthy Animals, Healthy Food, a Healthy Future, held in Brussels on 11 Jun 2015. Continue reading →

Climate change impacts on livestock: ‘This information does not exist’
Africa / Books and Chapters / CCAFS / Climate Change / Food Security / ILRI / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / SLS / Spotlight

Climate change impacts on livestock: ‘This information does not exist’

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A new working paper from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) has been published on the impacts of climate change on livestock across Africa. Lead author of the new paper, Philip Thornton, is a scientist with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Continue reading →

It’s simple (everybody eats); It’s complicated (everybody eats differently)
Agri-Health / Consumption / Food Security / Human Health / Policy / Report / Spotlight / UK

It’s simple (everybody eats); It’s complicated (everybody eats differently)

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The inestimable Tara Garnett, of the Food Climate Research Network, offers much new food for thought on ‘the meat question’ in a new discussion paper on What is a sustainable healthy diet? and a new think piece, Gut feelings and possible tomorrows: (where) does animal farming fit? Continue reading →

New paper explodes a ‘breadbasket’ myth: African food production for African people, please
Agriculture / Article / CCAFS / Climate Change / Food Security / Humid Tropics / ILRI / Intensification / Opinion Piece / SLS / Spotlight / West Africa / Wildlife

New paper explodes a ‘breadbasket’ myth: African food production for African people, please

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‘Africa could be on the brink of an agricultural revolution. Political commitment to the sector is thankfully gaining momentum as an effective route to bring African populations out of hunger and poverty. But there is also talk that the region’s potential croplands should feed the rest of the world as well, in addition to providing vast quantities of biofuels. However, a new scientific paper released this week suggests African countries should cast global requests aside and instead focus on staple crop production to feed the continent first.’ Continue reading →