Closer, smarter integration of crops, animals and soils has bolstered food security, livelihoods and incomes in rural Zimbabwe
Animal Feeding / Animal Health / Animal Production / ASSP / Cattle / Crop-Livestock / DRYLANDSCRP / Event Report / Extension / Fodder / Food Security / Forages / Goats / ILRI / Impact Assessment / Legumes / LIVESTOCKCRP / LIVESTOCKFISH / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / Soils / Southern Africa / Spotlight / Zimbabwe

Closer, smarter integration of crops, animals and soils has bolstered food security, livelihoods and incomes in rural Zimbabwe

Partners and funders of a research-for-development project in rural Zimbabwe called ‘ZimCLIFS’ yesterday (18 Sep 2017) convened in the capital, Harare, to take stock of how small-scale mixed crop-and-livestock farmers improved their food and nutritional security and their livelihoods in four main districts (Goromonzi, Murewa, Gwanda and Nkayi, from 2012 to 2017) and in two spillover districts (Mutoko and Uzumba, from 2015 to 2017). Continue reading

On what (and how and when) to measure when measuring impacts of agricultural research for development
Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Capacity Strengthening / CGIAR / Directorate / Environment / Event Report / Food Security / Gender / ILRI / Impact Assessment / NRM / Nutrition / PIM / Policy / Poverty / Presentation / Research / Scaling / Spotlight

On what (and how and when) to measure when measuring impacts of agricultural research for development

By ILRI’s Iain Wright: On 6–8 Jul 2017, I attended a conference at ICRAF on Impacts of International Agricultural Research: Rigorous Evidence for Policy organized jointly by the CGIAR ISPC’s SPIA and PIM. I welcomed the delegates at this meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, on behalf of ICRAF and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the two CGIAR centres headquartered in Nairobi. A modified version of my address and personal reflections on impact assessment in CGIAR follows. Continue reading

Why livestock are essential for Agenda 2030—Jimmy Smith at the High-Level Forum on Sustainable Development
Advocacy / Directorate / Event Report / Food Security / Gender / GLAD / Human Health / ILRI / Nutrition / Policy / Poverty / Pro-Poor Livestock / Spotlight / Staff / Women

Why livestock are essential for Agenda 2030—Jimmy Smith at the High-Level Forum on Sustainable Development

United Nations High-Level Forum on Sustainable Development, Special Event: The Role of Livestock in Achieving the SDGs,Friday, 14 July, 2017: Opening remarks by Jimmy Smith, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Continue reading

Coming up 13 Jul: ‘Agriculture and Food Day’ at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
Advocacy / Agriculture / CGIAR / Directorate / Event / Food Security / Gender / GLAD / Human Health / ILRI / Policy / Poverty / Spotlight / Women

Coming up 13 Jul: ‘Agriculture and Food Day’ at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

The director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Jimmy Smith, will moderate a day-long ‘Agriculture and Food Day’ at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, which started yesterday (10 Jul 2017) and runs through 19 Jul at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York City. Continue reading

Ethiopia’s ‘livestock roadmaps’ for growth and transformation to a middle-income nation
Advocacy / ASSP / Directorate / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event Report / Food Security / GLAD / ILRI / Intensification / ISP / Markets / News clipping / Policy / Poverty / Pro-Poor Livestock / Scaling / Spotlight / Value Chains

Ethiopia’s ‘livestock roadmaps’ for growth and transformation to a middle-income nation

Jimmy Smith is a panel member in a special session occurring today organized by the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture—Sustainable livestock and the UN 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. In this session, Smith provides a concrete example of livestock advancing Agenda 2030 in the form of an Ethiopian ‘livestock master plan’ developed by the Ethiopian Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries with ILRI’s technical support and project funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as well as in-kind resources invested by the Ethiopian Government and ILRI. Continue reading

Capitalizing on women in livestock development—ILRI’s Jimmy Smith and Isabelle Baltenweck speak out
Advocacy / Directorate / Event Report / Food Security / Gender / GLAD / ILRI / Livelihoods / Opinion Piece / PIL / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Spotlight / Women

Capitalizing on women in livestock development—ILRI’s Jimmy Smith and Isabelle Baltenweck speak out

A recent opinion piece on women and livestock was written by Isabelle Baltenweck, an agricultural economist and deputy leader of ILRI’s Policies, Institutions and Livelihoods program. Her piece was published by the Thomson Reuters Foundation News.  Continue reading

Lessons learnt out of Africa: 19 factors not to underestimate in rural livestock/agricultural research for development
Agri-Health / Agriculture / AHH / Animal Health / Central Africa / Chickens / Crop-Livestock / Disease Control / East Africa / Event Report / Food Security / Gender / Human Health / ILRI / Nutrition / PIL / Policy / Presentation / Pro-Poor Livestock / Spotlight / Tanzania / Vaccines / Women / Zambia

Lessons learnt out of Africa: 19 factors not to underestimate in rural livestock/agricultural research for development

Robyn Alders gave a particularly candid and interesting presentation at a seminar/webinar held on 4 May 2017 at ILRI on the subject of ‘Animal-source foods for nutrition impact: Evidence and good practices for informed project design’. This was the fourth in a Livestock and Household Nutrition Learning Series of seminars/webinars organized jointly by Land O’Lakes International Development and ILRI. Continue reading

Livestock for food security and nutrition—Committee on World Food Security policy recommendations
A4NH / Agri-Health / AHH / AMR / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / Animal Production / Disease Control / Farming Systems / Feeds / Fodder / Food Safety / Food Security / Forages / FSZ / Gender / Genetics / Human Health / ILRI / Intensification / Livelihoods / Livestock Systems / Policy / PPR / Pro-Poor Livestock / Soils / Spotlight / Zoonotic Diseases

Livestock for food security and nutrition—Committee on World Food Security policy recommendations

The following policy recommendations build on the main findings of the CFS High Level Panel of Expert’s Jul 2016 report #10, on Sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition: What roles for livestock? The sustainable development of agriculture, including livestock, is essential for poverty reduction and the achievement of food security and nutrition. Continue reading

The multiple benefits of livestock are in focus this week as experts meet in Ethiopia
Animal Breeding / Animal Diseases / Animal Feeding / Animal Health / Animal Production / Animal Products / Directorate / Ethiopia / Event Report / Food Security / ILRI / ILRIComms / Policy / Poverty / Pro-Poor Livestock / Spotlight

The multiple benefits of livestock are in focus this week as experts meet in Ethiopia

More than 250 livestock experts from over 50 countries are exploring ways of ensuring that the long-term benefits of livestock contribute to sustainable development. They’re participating in the 7th Multi-Stakeholder Partnership meeting of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (GASL), in Ethiopia, this week. The 8–12 May 2017 meeting was officially opened by His Excellency Professor Fekadu Beyene, Ethiopia’s minister for livestock and fisheries, on Monday in the capital, Addis Ababa. Continue reading

From livestock smallholders to ‘smartholders’: Nurturing development with animal-source foods
Agri-Health / Animal Products / Consumption / Crop-Livestock / Directorate / Event / Food Security / Human Health / ILRI / Livelihoods / Livestock Systems / Nutrition / Policy / Presentation / Pro-Poor Livestock / Research / Resilience / Spotlight

From livestock smallholders to ‘smartholders’: Nurturing development with animal-source foods

Scientists from across the globe gathered at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences on 29–30 Mar 2017 to discuss ways to improve nutrition through animal-source foods in some of the most impoverished regions in the world. Chronically affecting 24 per cent of the world’s children, roughly 159 million in 2014, malnutrition is responsible for almost half of all child deaths worldwide. Jimmy Smith, director general of ILRI, was one of the keynote speakers at the opening of the Global Nutrition Symposium, the theme of which was ‘Nurturing development: Improving human nutrition with animal-source foods’. Continue reading