Using the Horn of Africa as an example, the maps illustrate different steps in a methodology developed to estimate and map the economic benefits to livestock keepers of controlling a disease (Shaw et al. 2014). Cattle are first assigned to different production systems as shown in Map 1, illustrating for example, where mixed farming is heavily dependent on the use of draft oxen in Ethiopia, areas of Sudan and South Sudan where oxen use is much lower, and the strictly pastoral areas of Somalia and Kenya. Continue reading
Category Archives: Books and Chapters
New map: Impacts of climate change on length of growing periods in Africa
Impacts of climate change on length of growing periods in Africa by Philip Thornton The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has published an atlas illustrating the current state of African smallholder agriculture. The Atlas of African Agriculture Research and Development comprises a series of maps and short analyses that showcase and locate the continent’s diverse agricultural … Continue reading
New map: Rainfall and rainfall variability in Africa
An average of less than 1,000 millimeters of rain falls per year across most of Africa (Map 1). Rainfall tends to decrease with distance from the equator and is negligible in the Sahara (north of about latitude 16°N), in eastern Somalia, and in the southwest of the continent in Namibia and South Africa. Rainfall is most abundant on the eastern seaboard of Madagascar; portions of the highlands in eastern Africa; large areas of the Congo Basin and central Africa; and parts of coastal western Africa including Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. Continue reading
New map: Ruminant livestock distribution in Africa
Ruminant livestock are raised across large parts of Africa where environmental conditions allow. Cattle, sheep, and goats are the most widespread, while camels are restricted to drier areas, particularly in the Horn of Africa and the arid parts of western Africa. These maps of ruminant distribution should, however, be used in conjunction with the livestock production systems map to better understand the systems and climate zones where ruminant livestock are found. The role of livestock varies greatly depending on the production system. Continue reading
New map: Livestock and mixed crop-livestock systems in Africa
Livestock-producing agricultural systems cover 73 percent of Africa and stretch across several climates (Map 1). To some extent, these climates determine what type of farming is practiced. In Africa, livestock-producing systems are broken into two main categories: livestock and mixed crop-livestock. These systems exist in three common African climates: arid/semiarid, humid/subhumid, and temperate/tropical highlands. Continue reading