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
Category Archives: Food Security
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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